Maine Dem Senate candidate comes out against voter ID

In a debate on Tuesday night between Maine US Senate candidates Susan Collins, the GOP incumbent, and Democrat challenger Troy Jackson, the latter said that voters should not be required to show identification when going to cast their ballots.

During the lightning round of the debate, the moderator asked, “should voters be required to show ID at the polls? Yes or no.”

Jackson replied, “No. As a working logger, many times I went to the polls without my ID.” Jackson, who previously served as the Maine state Senate president, was the replacement candidate for Democrat Graham Platner, who dropped out of the race over the summer mid a string of scandals coming to light.

Collins, who has been serving Maine in the Senate since 1997, said, “Yes. Only Americans should vote in American elections. I don’t think that’s too much to ask when you go to register to vote.” The debate came just one day after early voting began in the state. Jackson chimed in that it's “already the law” that only Americans can vote in US elections.

The issue of voter ID has been prominent in recent months, with the closely watched midterm elections taking place in November that will determine who controls the House and Senate in the final years of Trump’s final term in office.

Trump has been pushing for the SAVE Act to be passed in Congress, which would require Americans to show proof of citizenship to vote. The Department of Homeland Security said in late September that it was currently investigating 1,620 cases of voting by noncitizens. He said that 151 people have been arrested, and that over 300,000 suspected cases were being reviewed.