House Speaker Lawerence Denney has gotten legislation introduced on a 4-3 party-line vote in the House Ways & Means Committee to require a photo I.D. both to vote and to register to vote, and eliminate mail-in voter registration. "This is a piece of legislation that the pro-tem and I have been working on since the start of this session," Denney told the leadership-dominated committee. "Right now, you can mail in a request to register, mail in your registration form, and at the same time mail in a request for an absentee ballot, which means that you can actually vote without ever having to stand before anyone to prove who you are." House Assistant Minority Leader James Ruchti, D-Pocatello, objected, "This legislation appears to me, at least, to put a chilling effect on the exercise of the right to vote." Denney responded, "I think, like you do, that it is important that people be allowed to vote. ...  But I think it's also important to protect the integrity of the ballot."

Because House Assistant Majority Leader Scott Bedke, R-Oakley, was absent, it appeared that the Democrats on the panel could block the bill from being introduced; the committee is split 3-3 between Republican and Democratic leaders, with Chairman Rich Wills, R-Glenns Ferry, giving the Republicans a one-vote edge. But Bedke arrived for the vote on introducing Denney's bill. He then left again.

Denney told Eye on Boise that he and Senate President Pro-Tem Bob Geddes mailed out nearly 200 first-class letters to registered voters in a single district after the last election as a test, and about 30 came back showing "no one at that address." Some of the addresses were vacant lots, he said. The letters should have been forwarded if the people and addresses were real, he said. "They should not have come back to us." The House speaker said he's not sure if there's time to actually hold a hearing on the bill this session, but said he thought it was important to get it introduced. "Hopefully, we don't have time," he said.

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