No I.D. no vote? Is requiring a photo I.D. a reasonable measure against fraud, or a deterrent to voting? The Supreme Court is Iikely to decide this spring.

• Author: Urbina, Ian
• Position: National

On Election Day last November, Valerie Williams went to the polling station in the lobby of her Indianapolis retirement home to vote. In doing so, she unwittingly walked into the middle of a national debate about voting rights and laws designed to prevent voter fraud. The election officials at the polling place, who Williams had known for years, told her she could not cast a regular ballot. They said the forms of identification she had always used--a phone bill, a Social Security letter with her address on it, and an expired Indiana driver's license--were no longer valid under Indiana's new voter I.D. law, which required a current state-issued photo identification card.

"Of course I threw a fit," says Williams, 61. She cast a provisional ballot, which was not counted because she didn't go to the voting office within 10 days to prove her identity, as required under the law. Williams, who has trouble walking, says she couldn't get a ride to the office.

This incident is at the heart of a challenge to the Indiana law currently being considered by the Supreme Court. The case, Crawford v. Marion County Election Board, is "the most important case involving the mechanics of election administration in decades," says Daniel R Tokaji, a law professor at Ohio State University.

The Court will probably decide the case by June, in time to affect the November presidential election.

By Ian Urbina in Washington, D.C.

Supporters of the law, most of them Republicans, say requiring a state photo I.D. card is a prudent step toward curbing voter fraud. They say the requirement helps restore confidence in the voting process by removing the potential for fraud.

Opponents of the law, mostly Democrats, view voter I.D. requirements as a deterrent that disproportionately affects poor, minority, and elderly voters, who more often lack the required forms of I.D.--and who also tend to be Democrats.

FLORIDA, GEORGIA & INDIANA

Three states--Florida, Georgia, and Indiana--require voters to show a photo I.D.. Other states allow other types of documentation, such as utility bills or an affidavit from the voter. Twenty-three states require only what federal law demands: that just first-time voters who apply by mail and have not otherwise been verified by the state must prove their identity with documentation.

Last year, 27 states considered laws like the one in Indiana, seeking to increase I.D. requirements for registration or voting, according to the New York University School...