Document Type
Article
Publication Date
Summer 2019
Abstract
This Article examines the impact of state voter identification laws on college students’ ability to exercise their constitutional right to vote, with a particular focus on seven Southeastern states: Tennessee and its six contiguous neighbors—Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, and Virginia. Building on prior scholarship, the Article categorizes these jurisdictions as either “college student friendly” or “college student unfriendly” based solely on whether college student identification cards were accepted as valid forms of voter identification during the 2012 and 2016 presidential elections and the 2018 midterm elections.
After reviewing the historical development of voter ID laws, relevant provisions of the Fourteenth and Twenty-Sixth Amendments, and significant Supreme Court decisions—including Symm v. United States, Crawford v. Marion County Election Board, and Shelby County v. Holder—the Article analyzes the practical and constitutional implications of excluding student IDs from acceptable forms of identification. It argues that certain strict photo ID regimes, particularly Tennessee’s, create unnecessary barriers that disproportionately burden student voters. The Article concludes that states seeking to eliminate obstacles to electoral participation should permit students at both public and private institutions to use their college-issued photo identification to vote where they attend school, thereby better aligning voter ID requirements with constitutional protections and democratic principles.
Recommended Citation
Tracey B. Carter, Eliminating Barriers to Voting: How Allowing College Students to Use Their Student IDs to Vote in Certain Southeastern States Can Help Make Voting Great in America, 49 U. Mem. L. Rev. 1185 (Summer 2019).
