Labrador Letter - Another Victory for Election Integrity. By Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador (09/20/24)

The U.S. District Court upheld Idaho’s statutes that eliminated student IDs as an acceptable form of identification for registering to vote and voting.

HB 340 banned using student IDs because such IDs lack any kind of uniformity and security measures, and do not require any proof of residency. Labrador stated that our election process deserves more scrutiny and oversight.

Idaho’s current statutes allow for a broad range of verifiable IDs when registering to vote:

• driver’s licenses

• state-issued ID

• tribal identification

• federal ID (like a passport or military ID)

Lawsuits by March For Our Lives and BABE Vote claimed that Idaho’s laws were unconstitutionally discriminatory against students with student IDs, despite the legislature creating a secure, no-cost ID available to anybody who needed one — including students. 

Now, both cases are resolved with courts recognizing the importance of secure elections with valid and uniform identification.

The judge in the most recent decision stated:

“The Government has shown House Bill 340 promotes the State’s important interests of election security and prevention of voter fraud. Balancing these interests against House Bill 340’s requirement that registrants provide an approved form of identification to register—which may include no-fee identification—the Court concludes House Bill 340 does not pose an unconstitutional burden on registrants and grants the Secretary summary judgment….”

Idaho’s Attorney General Labrador continues to stand strong for election integrity, and we are grateful!