Applicants for voter registration cards in Maryland may have to provide proof of legal U.S. residency under a proposal some criticized as disenfranchisement.
Days after Gov. Martin O?Malley said Maryland will begin requiring proof of legal U.S. residency before a driver?s license is issued, one lawmaker said he wants to apply the same standards to voter registration. Sen. Richard Colburn, an Eastern Shore Republican, said many Marylanders assume proof ? such as a birth certificate, passport or driver?s license ? is already required.
“They were somewhat astounded to find out it isn?t,” Colburn said.
With the exception of New Hampshire and Arizona, few states require proof of residency other than a simple “check” on a voter registration application, lawmakers said.
But anything more could suppress voting rights, said Cynthia Boersma, legislative director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland.
Requiring proof places an “onerous burden” on the right to vote, said Boersma, who said there is no evidence the current system is ineffective.
Testifying at a state Senate committee hearing on the proposal Thursday, she said there are only seven instances nationwide of nonresidents casting a ballot.
Birth certificates and passports can be expensive and cumbersome to obtain, and some groups like seniors, women and African-Americans are less likely to have driver?s licenses than others, she said.
“Ironically, you end up disenfranchising U.S. citizens more than you are non-citizens,” Boersma said.
Other committee members at least seem to support the concept and said they will meet officials from local election boards to learn more about the verification process.
Sen. Andy Harris, a Baltimore County Republican, said he knows an illegal resident who successfully registered to vote.
“There is no check,” Harris said. “There can?t be.”
O?Malley said Maryland will begin to comply with the federal REAL ID law for driver?s licenses in two years. Some lawmakers have introduced bills that would make the requirement effective as early as Oct. 1.
