A reasonable voting safeguard

Requiring Iowa voters to show a photo identification at the polls is a common sense safeguard against voter fraud - if state lawmakers craft the measure in a way that does not place an undue burden on voters.

A bill, House File 8, that cleared the House State Government Committee last week, appears to be on the right track. It requires voters to present a valid photo ID when voting or when registering to vote at the polling place. It also would require voters who cast absentee ballots at the auditor's office or a satellite early voting station to present ID.

A good amendment added to the bill in committee would allow low-income Iowans to get a state ID card at no charge. And voters who show up at the polls without an ID could cast a provisional ballot reviewed later by a precinct board.

This measure, which may soon be debated by the full House, is a major improvement over a 2006 measure that almost certainly would have been declared unconstitutional. That bill failed to provide access to a free ID, resulting in essentially a fee for voting, or poll tax, that many courts have found runs afoul of constitutional protections. It also did not include any provisional voting option for Iowans who show up without an ID.

What's still missing from HF 8 is any mention of how the state would notify and educate voters on new requirements.

We believe a strong education component is crucial to making sure Iowans understand that a photo ID is needed and how to get one if they don't currently have one. Such an important rule change should not be a surprise sprung at the polling place.

Opponents of voter ID contend that the bill is a solution in search of a problem. They insist that instances of voter fraud in Iowa are exceedingly rare. They also contend the bill amounts to a poll tax, a charge we think has been addressed by the free ID amendment.

Supporters claim many cases of fraud are never prosecuted, although much of the evidence is anecdotal.

Regardless of what's happened in the past, the reality is that the possibility of fraud does exist, and there have been enough incidents in other states to justify a heightened level of concern.

Iowa may not be a voter fraud state, but it is, at this moment in its history, a politically divided swing state where elections are routinely tight. State Rep. Renee Schulte, R-Cedar Rapids, the bill's chief backer, won her seat in 2008 by 13 votes. Democrats kept control of the Iowa Senate last fall by a handful of votes in a few very close contests.

Iowa can't afford to take even the smallest risk that any of its critical election contests might be decided, or worse, thrown into chaotic dispute, by fraudulently cast ballots.

We're fortunate to have clean elections in Iowa, but reasonable rules likes this will help keep them clean.