Voter ID presentation is Sunday in Iowa City

IOWA CITY - Iowa City's Fight for Voting Rights team is hosting an event to help prepare voters for impending changes to the state's voter ID laws.

The Protect Your Right to Vote event takes place from 2 to 3:30 p.m. Sunday at the Center for Worker Justice of Eastern Iowa, 940 S. Gilbert Ct., with Johnson County Auditor Travis Weipert and University of Iowa professor Doug Jones as speakers.

A question-and-answer session and discussion will follow the presentations.

Earlier this year, the GOP-led Statehouse passed changes to the state's voter ID laws. Republicans say the changes are necessary to prevent voter fraud, while Democrats and others argue the laws suppress votes and create barriers for the poor, elderly, people with disabilities and minorities.

Some changes that began July 1 are:

l Voters not registered in the precinct where they live must provide proof of residence and ID when they vote.

l Someone vouching for a person registering and voting on the same day must show an ID to verify he or she lives where the new voter is casting a ballot.

l Voters who register and vote on Election Day at polling places that do not have electronic poll books will cast provisional ballots instead.

Further changes can be found online at sos.iowa.gov/voterID.

l Comments: (319) 339-3175; mitchell.schmidt@thegazette.com