Crawford v. Marion City Election Board & Indiana Democratic Party v. Rokita (consolidated)
Crawford and the Indiana Democratic Party sued the Marion City Election Board and others challenging the constitutionality of a new Indiana voting law. The Indiana law requires voters to present a government-issued photo ID at the polling place. Plaintiffs argued that the law places an undue burden on the right to vote, which is protected by the Constitution. The district court ruled in favor of the defendants, upholding the law.
The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed after balancing the interests
involved. The Seventh Circuit Court considered that “The fewer people
harmed by a law, the less total harm there is to balance against whatever benefits
the law might confer.” The Court found that the law would affect very
few people in Indiana and that the law’s intent and probable effect was
to reduce voting fraud, and not to disenfranchise poor or minority residents.
Question Presented:
Whether an Indiana statute mandating that those seeking to vote in-person produce a government-issued photo identification violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution.
