Twelve nuns couldn’t exercise their right to vote in Indiana primary election
because they didn't have state or federal identification bearing a photograph.
Indiana's
law requires every voter to produce a state or federal photo ID card.
The one who had to break the news to the nuns, who are in
their 80s and 90s and don’t own a driving license anymore, was Julie McGuire,
their fellow sister.
“It’s the law, and it makes it hard. Some don't understand
why.” McGuire said, according to The Associated Press.
On the other hand, the secretary of State, Todd Rokita, made
it very clear that everyone must abide the law.
“Indiana's
Voter ID Law applies to everyone. From all accounts that we’ve heard, the
sisters were aware of the photo ID requirements and chose not to follow them,”
he said in a statement.
This photo ID law is the strictest in the country and it was
pressed by Republicans to combat ballot fraud. It doesn’t recognize
out-of-state driver's licenses and makes it very hard for college students to
vote.
Angela Hiss, 19, of suburban Chicago,
said she was allowed to register to vote several weeks ago but was turned away
Tuesday from a polling site in South
Bend, where she attended classes at Notre Dame.
Hiss said officials would not accept her Illinois
license as proof of identification for an Indiana license, Los Angeles Times reports.
The convent will take care of this problem and will get
proper identification for the nuns in time for the general election.
“We’re going to take from now until November to get them out and get this done.
You can’t do this like school kids on a bus. I wish we could,” said Sister
McGuire.
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