Candidates' positions are categorized as Pro (Yes), Con (No), Not Clearly Pro or Con, or None Found. Candidates who have changed their positions are listed as Now their most recent position. Candidates are listed by party and in alphabetical order by last name. Black & white photos indicate candidates who have withdrawn or who no longer meet our criteria for inclusion.
Should voters be required to show photo identification in order to vote?
Gary Johnson, former Governor of New Mexico, issued the following statement through his Communications Director, Joe Hunter, in a Oct. 9, 2012 email to ProCon.org:
"While ballot integrity is clearly important, I am concerned that the growing trend among states to require photo ID's for voting poses a risk of broad vote suppression, particularly among the elderly and minorities, that outweighs the questionable benefits. In short, I fear that requiring photo ID is a solution in search of a problem." Oct. 9, 2012 Gary Johnson
Barack Obama, 44th President of the United States, authored a Sep. 20, 2005 senate resolution against voter photo identification requirements, "S. Con. Res. 53," available at brennancenter.org:
"Expressing the sense of Congress that any effort to impose photo identification requirements for voting should be rejected...
Whereas historically, certain citizens, especially racial minorities, have been prevented from voting because of significant barriers such as literacy tests, poll taxes, and property requirements;
Whereas in the face of persistently low voter turnout relative to other industrialized democracies, exaggerated fears of voter impersonation have led to calls for more stringent voter identification requirements, including the requirement of government-issued photo identification cards as the only approved form of voter identification;
Whereas there has been no substantiated evidence of any significant incidence of fraud due to voter impersonation, and the more serious attack on ballot integrity has been the discounting of millions of ballots, including an estimated 6,000,000 ballots lost in the 2000 Presidential election;
Whereas there is no evidence that photo identification requirements address the few isolated instances of such fraud..." Sep. 20, 2005 Barack Obama
Mitt Romney, former Governor of Massachusetts, stated the following on Dec. 27, 2011 during a press conference in Londonderry, NH, "Mitt Romney Endorses Voter ID," available at YouTube.com:
"I find it extraordinary that [US Attorney General] Eric Holder is, one more time, making a very serious error [in challenging a South Carolina law that requires a photo ID to vote]... The idea that people should not be able to be identified as they vote so that we can know that they are not voting multiple times. I mean, that's the purpose here of course. We don't want people voting multiple times and you can get a photo ID free from your state. You can get it at the time you register to vote...
That's one more lawsuit I'd end if I were president of the United States." Dec. 27, 2011 Mitt Romney
Jill Stein, MD, former Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, stated the following in a Sep. 27, 2012 interview with Sonali Kolhatkar, "How Green Party Presidential Candidate Jill Stein Differs from the Two Major Parties," available at www.uprisingradio.org:
"We call for, for example, a constitutional right to vote, which would make these voter ID laws obsolete and impossible. We would ensure that every voter has the right to vote...
...[W]hich would put voter ID laws basically into court, and would render them unconstitutional, essentially. It would make very clear that anyone who tries to restrict the right to vote will be taken into court, where they will have to prove before a court of law and a jury that they are not violating that right. And right now that decision, you know, is left up to secretaries of state, and to legislatures and so on. So there would be constitutional protection.." Sep. 27, 2012 Jill Stein
Failed to win the Republican nomination on Aug. 28, 2012; No additional research done as of that date to determine candidate’s position on this question.