(E)ven if they present themselves to vote and are challenged under the new identification law and are informed that in order for their ballot to count they must go get identification and then go to the Clerk's office, or even if they were to be told that they just had to go to the Clerk's office, homeless persons probably will not do so because of transportation difficulties.
If scientific, technical, or other specialized knowledge will assist the trier of fact to understand the evidence or to determine a fact in issue, a witness qualified as an expert by knowledge, skill, experience, training, or education, may testify thereto in the form of an opinion or otherwise, if (1) the testimony is based upon sufficient facts or data, (2) the testimony is the product of reliable principles and methods, and (3) the witness has applied the principles and methods reliably to the facts of the case.
Based on our analysis to date, it is clear that there will be a significant number of individuals impacted by the implementation of SEA 483. Our research shows that at least 51,000 registered voters and more likely 141,000 registered voters, in Marion County alone would have to obtain a drivers license or ID in order to vote. If these patterns were to hold true for the rest of the state, as many as 989,000 registered voters in the state could be challenged when they try to go vote in November, 2006.
Common experience tells us that the persons without such identification are likely to come from segments of the society that do not drive, including those without the financial ability to afford vehicles. The Brace study confirms what common sense tells us. The Brace study reveals that those registered voters without BMV-issued identification are almost twice as likely to reside in census block groups with a lower median income.
When the government erects a barrier that makes it more difficult for members of one group to obtain a benefit than it is for members of another group, a member of the former group seeking to challenge the barrier need not allege that he would have obtained the benefit but for the barrier in order to establish standing. The “injury in fact” in an equal protection case of this variety is the denial of equal treatment resulting from the imposition of the barrier, not *814 the ultimate inability to obtain the benefit.
If, as broadly alleged, petitioners' steering practices have perceptibly impaired HOME's ability to provide counseling and referral services for low-and moderate-income homeseekers, there can be no question that the organization has suffered injury in fact. Such concrete and demonstrable injury to the organization's activities—with the consequent drain on the organization's resources—constitutes far more than simply a setback to the organization's abstract social interests. We therefore conclude, as did the Court of Appeals, that in view of HOME's allegations of injury it was improper for the District Court to dismiss for lack of standing the claims of the organization in its own right.
Amicus curiae attempts to expand HOPE's representational capacity, however, by extending it beyond HOPE's members and directors to all persons for whom HOPE seeks housing. This argument ignores the fact that standing in representational capacity requires that the representative litigate on behalf of members who would have standing in their own right, and furthermore, that the group of low and moderate income persons, for which HOPE seeks housing in DuPage County, are not and cannot be considered members of HOPE. The Supreme Court has not seen fit to extend representational capacity standing to entities other than associations which actually represent interests of parties whose affiliation with the representational litigant is that of membership with the representative or substantial equivalent of membership. We likewise decline to further extend representational standing.
It cannot be doubted that these comprehensive words [of Article I § 4] embrace authority to provide a complete code for congressional elections, not only as to times and places, but in relation to ... prevention of fraud and corrupt practices ... to enact the numerous requirements as to procedure and safeguards which experience shows as necessary in order to enforce the fundamental right involved.
[T]he other incidental but nonetheless real and substantial costs ... [include] the cost in time and of transportation, especially to those without driver's licenses, who will have to either use public transportation (for a fee) to travel to the BMV location, quite possibly after a trip to the health department to obtain (for a fee) a certified copy of a birth certificate, not to mention the additional costs in time and money for voters who were born in other states.
has recently been the victim of identity fraud or her driver's license may have been stolen, or her personal records destroyed in a fire, hurricane, tornado, or other natural disaster. Or the voter may simply be unaware of the Law's stringent new identification requirements or simply forgot to bring her identifying documents to the polls so near to 6:00 p.m. as to eliminate the possibility of retrieving it before the 6:00 p.m. poll closing.
Evils in the same field may be of different dimensions and proportions, requiring different remedies. Or so the legislature may think. Or the reform may take one step at a time, addressing itself to the phase of the problem which seems most acute to the legislative mind. The legislature may select one phase of one field and apply a remedy there, neglecting the others. The prohibition of the Equal Protection Clause goes no further than the invidious discrimination. We cannot say that that point has been reached here.
Indeed, it is imperative that the State actors take an active role in the Law's implementation and administration, as a laissez faire approach to the enforcement of this Law or any other state election law could give rise to an equal protection claim, if for example the State's failure to take reasonable measures to ensure that the Photo ID Law is enforced uniformly and equally in all precincts of all 92 counties results in different citizens, due to the vagaries of their residence, being accorded different voting rights.
It is said elections are free when the voters are subject to no intimidation or improper influence, and when every voter is allowed to cast his ballot as his own judgment and conscience dictate. That they are equal when the vote of every elector is equal in its influence upon the result to the vote of every other elector; when each ballot is as effective as every other ballot.
[B]ecause we never require a legislature to articulate its reasons for enacting a statute, it is entirely irrelevant for constitutional purposes whether the conceived reason for the challenged distinction actually motivated the legislature. Thus, the absence of “legislative facts” explaining the distinction on the record has no significance in rational-basis analysis. In other words, a legislative choice is not subject to courtroom fact-finding and may be based on rational speculation unsupported by evidence or empirical data.
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