House passes latest version of Rep. Moon's sweeping election-law changes bill, 47-21 - Idaho Press
The House has voted 47-21 in favor of the latest version of Rep. Dorothy Moon’s sweeping proposal to alter a slew of Idaho election laws, from voter ID requirements to voter registration. It’s the third version of her bill this year. All the debate was against the bill, which now moves to the Senate side.
“There’s a lot of reports of people coming from Canada that I’ve been hearing, just after coming back from Coeur d’Alene last night, that have been coming over and voting,” Moon, R-Stanley, told the House. “So this just secures our elections. Election integrity is a big issue. A lot of people want to see these simple changes made.”
Moon is currently running for Idaho Secretary of State.
Rep. Colin Nash, D-Boise, noted that provisions in the bils, HB 761, regarding trusts that own homes were inaccurate; that’s the area of law he practices. Rep. Ilana Rubel, D-Boise, said an Idaho Attorney General’s opinion found the bill “very likely would all be struck down as unconstitutional,” and said, “There are … going to be thousands of people in Idaho, legal, perfectly legal Idahoans who would be barred from registering under this statute.”
Rubel, an attorney, said under the bill’s provisions, those would have included her late mother, had she not died last year, because, “She did not have a utility bill in her name. … There’s a very limited number of documents that can be produced that I think many thousands of legal people could not produce. … I don’t think this improves election integrity. I don’t think disenfranchising thousands of legal voters gets you more accurate results. I think it gets you less accurate results.”
Moon said, “What we need is an election integrity bill that’s going to make people feel that we’re all following the rules. … Let’s make a few fixes to our election integrity issues for secure elections.”
To become law, the bill still would need to clear a Senate committee, pass the full Senate and receive the governor’s signature. Last week, the Senate State Affairs Committee killed a similar proposal from Sen. Mary Souza, R-Coeur d’Alene; Souza also is running for Idaho Secretary of State, as is Ada County Clerk Phil McGrane.
During the hearing on Souza’s bill, Blake Youde, lobbyist for the Idaho Association of County Recorders and Clerks, said, “There’s 64 election bills pending right now before the Legislature in some way, shape or form.” He said that’s creating lots of confusion, with many amending the same sections of state law and having different effective dates. “If we really need to examine Idaho’s election laws in their totality,” he said, lawmakers should convene an interim committee and work with county clerks and other stakeholders.
Senate President Pro Tem Chuck Winder, R-Boise, then pledged to pursue that,
Betsy Z. Russell is the Boise bureau chief and state capitol reporter for the Idaho Press and Adams Publishing Group. Follow her on Twitter at @BetsyZRussell.
source: https://www.idahopress.com/eyeonboise/house-passes-latest-version-of-rep-moons-sweeping-election-law-changes-bill-47-21/article_be9c0364-507e-5f32-9809-efd5c1a59c7b.html
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