RICHMOND, Va. (WTVR) - The state board of elections is mailing out voter registration cards to every registered voter in Virginia – 4.7 million of them - as part of the state’s new voter ID law.
If you haven’t got yours voter card yet, it should be in your mailbox in by the middle of next week.
They cost between $1.3 million and $1.4 million, said Justin Riemer, Deputy Secretary of the State Board of Elections.
Riemer said those who don’t have their card by the end of next week should call their local registrar or the State Board of Elections.
The cards will suffice as proof of ID, along with the many other forms of ID, including:
• Valid Virginia driver’s license
• Military ID
• Government-issued ID
• Employer-issued photo ID card
• Concealed handgun permit
• Valid Virginia College ID
• Medicare or Medicaid card
• Current utility bill, bank statement, government check or paycheck indicating the name and address of the voter
Virginia has had a voter ID law for years. But previously, if you didn’t have any ID, you just had to sign an affidavit.
Foes of voter ID laws say they can disenfranchise the poor, elderly, students and minorities.
The free voter cards going out hasn’t softened that opposition.
State delegate Joe Morrissey (D-74th District) said “not only is it expensive, not only does it not help stop the problem of voter fraud – which doesn’t exist in the first place – but it promotes it.”
For example, Morrissey said, in apartments and other high-turnover properties, mail can be left in mailboxes or even on the floor.
“Anybody could have gone and picked them up,” Morrissey said. “They could’ve picked up four or five and voted four or five times.”
The State Board of Elections estimates there are a million voters who could register, but haven’t. The deadline to register is October 15.
