1Virginia’s voter ID law could be challenged, and a stricter one, like requiring a photo ID, could become much harder to pass. Registration deadlines could face lawsuits too.
- What Amendment 3 says
- Every qualified person “shall have the fundamental right to vote,” and “such right shall not be abridged by law,” except for two listed exceptions: incarceration for a felony, and a court finding that a person can’t understand the act of voting.
- Virginia law today
- In Virginia, voters must show one of several kinds of ID, or sign a statement under penalty of a felony that they are who they say (§ 24.2-643). Registration has deadlines, and voter lists are maintained.
- How it could happen
- A voter or group could argue in a Virginia court that the ID requirement or a registration deadline “abridges” the right, and because the text lists only two exceptions, a court would weigh whether the rule is allowed at all. The same test would apply to any new law: if the General Assembly later wanted to require a photo ID, it would face a constitutional challenge from the start.
- Other facts that bear on it
- The text keeps being “registered to vote” as a qualification. It doesn’t mention ID.
Sources: Question 3 legal text, Va. Dept. of Elections · Code of Virginia § 24.2-643, voter identification at the polls