Opinion ID: 171428
Heading Depth: 5
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The burdens imposed by the law

Text: The first prong of this test requires us to consider the alleged injury to the right to vote. Crawford, 128 S.Ct. at 1616. The district court restricted its Burdick analysis to the burdens imposed on similarly situated voters at polling locations and not the differing burdens imposed on in-person versus absentee voters. See Santillanes, 506 F.Supp.2d at 631. The court held that the bureaucratic hurdles entailed by the [Albuquerque amendment] may present a substantial obstacle in the path of Albuquerque voters even if they do not amount to a categorical ban on voting. Id. at 633. According to the district court, one of the most significant hurdles is the difficulty of obtaining valid photo identification for voting purposes, especially in the ten-day time period following a determination that a particular photo identification is deemed invalid. Id. at 635. The district court was further concerned that the City has not presented plans to inform voters of the new identification requirements, and that because the law only applies to municipal elections and not all elections, voters will be confused as to when the requirement is applicable. Id. at 635-36. In light of these concerns, the district court concluded that the Albuquerque amendment imposes a significant burden on the right to vote. Id. at 636. [2] Restrictions that are generally applicable, even-handed, politically neutral, and which protect the reliability and integrity of the election process are generally not considered severe restrictions and are upheld. Gonzalez v. Arizona, 485 F.3d 1041, 1049 (9th Cir.2007) (internal quotation marks omitted). Here, the provision is especially even-handed given the alternatives for acceptable photo identification. If a voter's particular form of photo identification is considered invalid, the voter may present another valid form of identification within ten days at the city clerk's office. The Albuquerque law provides an extensive list of examples of acceptable forms of identification, and in most cases a voter will likely have another form that will be considered acceptable. Furthermore, for those who cannot present a second form of photo identification, the individual can obtain photo identification free of charge from the city clerk's office. The district court was concerned with the City's failure to establish plans to inform voters of the new law, and determined that the law's application is confusing. The City argues that if the district court had not enjoined the City from enforcing the law, it would have had ample time to inform voters of the new photo identification requirement. Regardless, we think that the degree of voter education, particularly in the absence of any indication that any voters would be or were confused, cannot be an adequate ground to invalidate this provision-our task is not to mandate a perfect system-just one that meets constitutional requirements. And second, the law clearly states its application to all Albuquerque municipal elections, and nothing suggests that its application is any more confusing than the changing boundaries or precincts that often accompany elections and that voters must accommodate. Regardless, in Crawford, the Supreme Court concluded that the burdens imposed by a photo identification requirement did not substantially burden the right to vote. [A] voter may lose his photo identification, may have his wallet stolen on the way to the polls, or may not resemble the photo in the identification because he recently grew a beard. Burdens of that sort arising out of life's vagaries, however, are neither so serious nor so frequent as to raise any question about the constitutionality of [the photo identification requirement]. Crawford, 128 S.Ct. at 1620. The Indiana law also similarly provided for a provisional ballot alternative where a voter could then present valid identification following the election. Crawford, 128 S.Ct. at 1613-14. Consistent with Crawford, the types of burdens imposed by the Albuquerque law requiring photo identification arise out of life's vagaries but do not amount to a substantial burden on a person's right to vote.