A bill in the Iowa House is ready for floor debate after getting out of a committee last week.

House Study Bill 37 states that driver’s licenses and non-operating photo identification cards would be required to show an individual’s citizenship status on the back of the card. House District 47 Representative Carter Nordman says the main reason for this legislation is to ensure another protection in the state’s voting system. He describes a situation that arose last year.

“As you know, we had a number of ballots this last election called into question based off of citizenship, and I think that by adding this to Iowa driver’s licenses it will help speed up the process, but also help identify who can and cannot be voting at the polls in a more efficient manner. I think it’s just another layer of protection to ensure that we are ensuring that only people who are legally allowed to vote are voting.”  

Nordman believes Iowa has one of the safest voting systems in the country, but he is always willing to hear good ideas of how to continually improve it. Opponents of the bill say this would be a form of discrimination. The bill moved out of the House Judiciary Committee, which Nordman serves on and voted for the legislation last week, making it eligible for a House floor vote.