Judge allows Idaho voter ID challenge to move forward

A federal judge Wednesday allowed one of the challenges to Idaho’s new voter identification rules to move forward.

The denial of Idaho’s motion to dismiss the suit comes after a county district judge dismissed a similar challenge Oct. 2 brought by other organizations.

Wednesday’s decision came in the case brought by March for Our Lives Idaho and the Idaho Alliance for Retired Americans against Secretary of State Phil McGrane over legislation that removed student IDs as acceptable voter identification.

U.S. District Court Judge Amanda Brailsford ruled that the plaintiffs sufficiently demonstrated they may be harmed by the laws and that they are “ripe for review.”

In the lawsuit, the groups argue that HB 124 and HB 350 violate constitutional protections to voting.

March for Our Lives Idaho is a student-led organization that advocates taking action to end gun violence. Part of its advocacy includes voter registration and turnout activities, according to court documents.

The Idaho Alliance for Retired Americans is a nonprofit that aims to protect retirees’ civil rights; many of the group’s members are elderly and no longer drive and do not need to renew their driver’s licenses, court documents said.

The complaint argues that the legislation violates the 26th Amendment, which states the right to vote for citizens who are 18 and older, “shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of age.”

They argue the laws were motivated by a “discriminatory purpose” and were “adopted in response to an unprecedented wave of political activism by young Idahoans (and) represent a clear backlash to that activism,” the lawsuit said.

They also argue HB 340 violates the 24th Amendment, which states that the right to vote “shall not be denied or abridged ... by reason of failure to pay any poll tax or other tax.” Plaintiffs say that the no-fee ID card isn’t a sufficient solution because it wouldn’t’ serve those who turn 18 shortly before an election or those who no longer drive and would otherwise not renew their drivers’ license.

The free ID cards are available only to those who haven’t held a current driver’s license in the previous six months.

The third claim plaintiffs make is that the laws violate the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment because the registration requirements are not the same for new registrants and existing voters and that the rules are discriminatory against those trying to register for the first time.

McGrane filed a motion to dismiss the suit for lack of standing and that the laws wouldn’t harm the members of the organizations who brought the suit.

As part of McGrane’s support for his argument, he attached information about identification used at Idaho polls that showed 104 voters used student IDs in the 2022 general election.

The court found that this information supported, rather than disputed, the plaintiff’s claim that some voters use this form of ID to vote. Brailsford found that March for our Lives adequately demonstrated that voter registration efforts would be made more difficult when young people had only student ID cards for photo identification.

She also ruled that the alliance showed that HB 340 “frustrates” its mission “by impeding its members’ ability to vote (and)] threatening the electoral prospects of the candidates the Alliance endorses” and “will force the Alliance to divert resources away from these activities and towards educating its members about the stricter voter registration requirements.”

The case will move forward in U.S. District Court.

The dismissal of the other challenge to the laws, brought by Babe Vote and the League of Women Voters, in Ada County District Court has been appealed to the state Supreme Court, KTVB reported.

Guido covers Idaho politics for the Lewiston Tribune, Moscow-Pullman Daily News and Idaho Press of Nampa. She may be contacted at lguido@idahopress.com and can be found on Twitter @EyeOnBoiseGuido.