Shortbull: Repeal photo I.D. law

By Denise Ross, Journal Staff Writer | Friday, July 02, 2004

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RAPID CITY — Oglala Lakota College president and former state lawmaker Tom Shortbull will call on the state Legislature to repeal South Dakota's voter ID law.

Shortbull announced Thursday that he will hold a news conference on Tuesday to discuss how the 2002 Help America Vote Act and the state law compare. Shortbull is a member of an advisory board to the federal Elections Assistance Commission, which was created by the 2002 law.

"South Dakota is not under any federal mandate to require the photo ID to vote in national elections," according to Shortbull's news release.

Shortbull declined to discuss his arguments for repeal of the state voter ID law before he holds the news conference on the Rapid City campus of Oglala Lakota College next week.

A state law passed in 2003 has been central to complaints and legal action stemming from allegations of voters being turned away from the polls in the June 1 statewide election and in a June 15 city/school election in Lake Andes.

The law requires voters to either present photo identification or sign an affidavit attesting to their identity. However, complaints have come from around the state that some American Indians were turned away because they lacked a photo ID and were not offered the option of signing an affidavit.

Four Directions, a nonprofit voter advocacy group, has filed a lawsuit challenging the June 15 Lake Andes election and is preparing federal civil rights lawsuits based on allegations from June 1.

Four Directions executive director Bret Healy has called for the state's voter ID law to go but said he was unaware of Shortbull's call for repeal of the law.

"We applaud Tom's appeal to get rid of this bad law," Healy said.

Shannon County Republican Party chairman Bruce Whalen was an observer at a polling place in Pine Ridge on June 1 and said he does not believe the voter ID law presents the obstacles to voting that Healy claims.

"I don't see that there's any reason to kill it. I've talked to hundreds of people around here. They all have IDs. I've watched people come through the polls, and it wasn't a problem," said Whalen, an enrolled member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe.

South Dakota Secretary of State Chris Nelson said he supports the law, although it wasn't his idea.

"The law is on the books. It's my job and the job of county auditors to administer that," he said. "The purpose of the law is to make sure that every person who cast a ballot is who they say they are. I believe the law can do that as long as it is administered the way it's written."

Nelson said he was neutral on the law during the 2003 session, then testified in favor of it after lawmakers added a provision he had pushed that allows people to vote early without giving a reason.

"It certainly wasn't something that came from me or the state Board of Elections," Nelson said.

But he said he believes there is support across the state for the voter ID law based on unsolicited comments he received while traveling the state during the 2002 campaign.

Contact Denise Ross at 394-8438 or denise.ross@rapidcityjournal.com