John Gizzi of Human Events documents the 39th president’s support for a photo identification requirement for voters:
In an op-ed feature in the the New York Times (Feb. 3, 2008), co-authored with former Secretary of State James A. Baker III (a Republican), Carter noted the controversy in state legislatures over the voter ID requirement issue. Recalling their co-chairmanship of the Bipartisan Commission on Federal Election Reform in 2005, Carter and Baker concluded that “both parties’ concerns were legitimate—a free and fair election requires ballot security and full access to voting.”
In order to bridge the divide between Republicans and Democrats on this issue, the two senior statesmen of the major parties proposed “a uniform voter photo ID based on the federal REAL ID Act of 2005 [which made drivers’ licenses a legal identification for “official purposes,” such as boarding airline flights or entering federal buildings], to be phased in over five years.
“To help with the transition,” wrote Carter and Baker, “states would provide free voter photo ID cards for eligible citizens; mobile units would be sent out to provide the IDs and register voters.” They also noted that of the 21 members of their commission, only three dissented from this proposal.
