Secretary of State Mark Martin recently announced that the implementation of the state’s photo-ID system is complete. The Secretary of State’s office provided Voter ID systems to each of Arkansas’s 75 counties, allowing each county clerk’s office to produce photo identification cards at no charge for voters who don’t have them. “This project has put counties in compliance with the requirements of Act 595 of 2013. It also provides additional integrity to our electoral system,” Martin said.
Act 595 (formerly SB2, championed by AAI Legislator of the Year Senator Bryan King) requires that, as of Jan. 1, 2014, voters show photographic proof of identity. The act also tasked the Secretary of State with establishing rules to issue identification cards to voters who have no other proof of identity. Just about any government ID qualifies; if voters do not have any of these forms of ID, they can visit their local county clerks and obtain identification cards at no charge to them.
More of Secretary Martin’s statement:
These identification cards accommodate voters who might otherwise not meet the ID requirements for voting. We have worked closely with county clerks’ offices across the state to implement this program, and will continue to do so. We have set up a website with information about the Voter Identification law, and we encourage Arkansans to visit that site to learn what qualifies as photo ID and other aspects of the law. Additionally, we have worked through civic organizations like the NAACP to publicize the new law and will continue to actively work to notify voters of the new requirements.
To see the website and learn more about Arkansas’s new voter ID law, visit FaceYourVote.org.
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