The two Republican candidates for governor have thrown their support behind a pair of bills that would require voters to show photo identification to vote.
Mike Kennealy and Brian Shortsleeve, both former Baker administration officials, issued joint statements this week in support of a provision that remains a hot-button issue in GOP election integrity circles.
“Elections have consequences, so we need to ensure the highest level of integrity. I support Massachusetts joining the growing list of states requiring voter identification at the polls,” Shortsleeve, who oversaw the MBTA under former Gov. Charlie Baker, said in a statement issued by his campaign. “With the costly surge of migrants into our state, it is especially important that we pass a voter identification law.”
The companion Senate and House bills sponsored by state Sen. Peter Durant, R-Worcester/Hampshire, and Rep. Donald Berthiaume, R-5th Worcester, were set to get an airing before a legislative committee this week.
Kennealy, who served as Baker’s housing and economic development czar, called the legislation a “commonsense step” that would “strengthen the integrity of our elections and help restore public confidence across the political spectrum.”
“In today’s world, you need an ID to board a plane, buy certain medications, or even enter many buildings. It stands to reason that voting, the very foundation of our democratic republic, should be held to the same standard,” Kennealy said.
Photo identification “is required to fly, buy a cell phone, open a bank account, pick up a prescription and even attend the Massachusetts Democrat[ic] State Convention. It is a reasonable request,” Shortsleeve said.
Kennealy offered a similar sentiment, noting that “implementing voter ID is a commonsense step that would strengthen the integrity of our elections and help restore public confidence across the political spectrum. It’s a practical measure that brings more transparency, not division.”
Democratic Gov. Maura Healey, whom both Shortsleeve and Kennealy are looking to unseat next year, already has staked out her turf on the issue.
“We know voter ID disproportionately affects the poor, people of color, and the elderly. It’s just wrong,” Healey posted to Twitter (now X) in 2017.
Right now, 36 states request or require voters to show identification at the polls, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Supporters have long argued that the requirements are necessary to prevent voter fraud and to ensure that elections are safe and secure, and that citizens can trust the results.
“Voter ID laws can stop multiple types of fraud, such as impersonating another registered voter, preventing noncitizens from voting, and stopping out-of-state residents or someone registered in multiple jurisdictions,” Fred Lucas wrote in a January 2023 analysis published by The Daily Signal.
“It’s safe to say there is bipartisan consensus for voter ID but a clear partisan divide in the political class. That wasn’t always the case,” Lucas continued.
Opponents, meanwhile, have argued that such laws don’t work and don’t prevent the kind of fraud they’re intended to prevent. Namely, voter impersonation, which is vanishingly rare, according to experts.
And it’s more often employed to disenfranchise certain voting blocs — particularly older Americans and Black and brown voters, according to research by the American Bar Association.
“Time and time again, voter photo ID laws are proven to be ineffective tools to fight voter fraud — in the rare instances it does take place. While voter photo ID laws aim to prevent in-person voter impersonation, an almost non-existent form of voter fraud, other types of voter impersonation are similarly rare and not cause for significant concern,” the League of Women Voters observed in a May 2023 blog post.
The voters’ rights group pointed to data compiled by the Brennan Center showing that the “rate of in-person voter impersonation is extremely low: only 0.00004% of all ballots cast.”
“It’s worth noting that this rate is even significantly lower than other rare forms of voter fraud, such as absentee ballot fraud, which voter photo ID laws do not address,” the League observed.
Polling ahead of the 2024 presidential election showed broad support for requiring both photo identification and proof of citizenship to vote.
Eighty-four percent of respondents to an October 2024 Gallup poll said they backed the photo identification requirement, while 83% said they were on board with requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote for the first time.
But there tends to be a sharp partisan divide over issues of voter integrity overall.
Republicans tend to be more deeply skeptical of the security of election results, with confidence in the presidential results dipping to just 28% weeks ahead of Election Day in 2024, a Gallup analysis showed.
Meanwhile, confidence among Democrats on the reliability of the presidential vote jumped from 57% to 85% between 2008 and 2016. It remained high heading into the 2024 contest, according to Gallup.
More than half of independent respondents — who make up a huge share of the Bay State’s electorate — also have “consistently seen it as accurate,” that same September 2024 Gallup analysis showed.
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