Harman: Check IDs at polling places

Huntington Beach state Sen. Tom Harman wants you to vote, but first he wants to see your ID.

Harman, who represents Newport Beach and Costa Mesa in the state senate, plans to introduce a bill that would require people to show proof of their identity when they go to the polls.

Eighteen states require voters to show ID to cast a ballot, Harman said Monday. People have suspected voter fraud in California, but it’s not clear how widespread it is, and it’s hard to prove, he said.

“It just doesn’t make sense to me that we shouldn’t require some type of identification at the polling place,” Harman said. “You have to have identification to drive a car, you have to have identification to cash a check or get on an airplane.”

In states where voter ID has been proposed or is required, some have argued that it disenfranchises people who don’t have the required documents or can’t pay the cost of getting a state-issued ID card. Harman said he’ll consider that and possibly make some provision for it in the bill.

Three similar bills were tried in the last legislative session, he said, and all were killed in committee on party-line votes, with Democrats opposing them.

But even if he’s successful, the bill’s effects could be muted in Orange County, where in some recent elections as many as half the participating voters cast absentee ballots. Harman’s bill would require people to show ID if they hand-delivered their absentee ballot to elections officials, but nothing would change for those who mail ballots in.