Social media users are claiming that Kamala Harris only won in states that don’t require voters to produce ID at the polls. This is untrue, as Harris won in several states that do require ID at the polls, while Donald Trump won in two states that don’t require ID. Moreover, though social media users seemed to imply there was a connection between voter ID laws and Harris's victories, voters in states that don’t ask for ID at the polls still have to be registered to vote, and states have procedures to follow if they’re unsure about a voter’s eligibility.
A number of social media posts have claimed that Democratic candidate Kamala Harris only won U.S. states that don’t require ID to vote.
A post on X, formerly Twitter, on Nov. 6, one appearing to show an Associated Press election map and another showing a map from Ballotpedia that indicated which states require what kind of ID to vote.
“Kamala only won in states where voter ID is not required. Do you understand anon?” the user wrote. As of midday Nov. 14,the post had about 45,000 likes.
It was one of several such posts on , and that implied Harris’s victory in certain states was tied to the voter ID rules in those states.
Claim: False
Of the , six of them, or nearly one-third, had some sort of requirement for voters to present identification at the polls.
, 35 American states require voters to present ID at the polls on election days. Of these, 10 don’t explicitly require the ID to have a photo. The remaining 15 states do not require ID at the polls, and neither does the District of Columbia, which Harris won.
Harris won New Hampshire and Rhode Island, which require photo ID. She also won Colorado, Virginia, Connecticut and Delaware, which require ID, but not necessarily a photo. She also won Nebraska's second congressional district, which does require ID.
That means Harris won in 13 of the states that don’t require ID at the polls. Trump claimed the other two no-ID states (Nevada and Pennsylvania).
Voter ID rules vary by state
However, despite the fact some states don’t require ID at the polls, that doesn’t mean people can vote completely unchecked in those jurisdictions.
In every state except for North Dakota, people must be registered in order to vote (North Dakota but does require ID). To register, they have to provide documentation, which varies by state but is often a driver’s licence or a state ID, according to the U.S. government.
says several of those states still require ID from first-time voters, while some may require it if the voter didn’t present proper identification when they registered to vote. Newly registered voters must provide either their driver’s licence number or the last four digits of their social security numbers to register.
Every state has slightly different rules. For example, Oregon is an all-mail voting state. Voters register with either their driver’s licence number or state ID card number. Therefore, Oregon technically doesn’t require ID at the polls because voting is only by mail.
In New York, which doesn’t require ID at the polls, if voters don’t provide valid ID when they register to vote, they must bring it on election day.
Sources
Claims can be found on X () and (), and on Facebook () and Instagram ()
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