Vice President Kamala Harris recently faced significant backlash for her campaign’s requirement that attendees present government-issued IDs to enter a rally, despite her vocal opposition to voter ID laws. The rally, held in Arizona alongside her vice-presidential running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, drew scrutiny from critics who noted the apparent contradiction in her stance on voter identification.
Prior to the event, which took place at the Desert Diamond Arena in the Phoenix area, Harris’s campaign sent out emails detailing that only those who had confirmed their RSVP would be allowed entry. The email specified that attendees would need to present a government-issued photo ID that matched their RSVP details, as reported by KTAR. The rally’s location and timing were confirmed just a day before the event, with admission restricted to a narrow window from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
This move led to a flurry of criticism on social media, with users pointing out what they saw as hypocrisy in Harris’s approach. Actor Kevin Sorbo and commentator Nick Sortor took to social platforms like X (formerly Twitter) to highlight the inconsistency between Harris’s stance on voter ID laws and the requirements for her private campaign event. Sorbo questioned, “Voter ID is racist, but you can’t get into a Kamala rally without ID,” while Sortor pointedly asked, “Requiring ID to vote is racist… But requiring ID to attend a Kamala Harris ‘rally’ is NOT racist?”
Political commentator Gunther Eagleman also weighed in, noting the disparity in Harris’s positions on photo ID requirements. He remarked, “Kamala Harris requires photo ID to enter a private campaign event. Kamala Harris doesn’t want to require photo ID to vote. Kamala Harris doesn’t want to require ID before crossing our border. Weird.”
In her 2021 interview with Soledad O’Brien on BET, Harris had expressed concerns about the impact of voter ID laws, highlighting the difficulties they might pose for individuals in rural areas without easy access to photocopying services. She argued that while it’s important to verify identity, it shouldn’t be so burdensome that it effectively disenfranchises voters.
Furthermore, in an op-ed penned for The Washington Post shortly after being named as Joe Biden’s running mate, Harris criticized what she saw as modern-day voter suppression tactics. She accused Republicans of enacting suppressive measures like voter ID laws and gerrymandering to undermine the voting rights of communities of color, drawing a parallel to historical voter suppression methods.
The criticism of Harris’s rally ID requirement underscores ongoing debates about voter identification laws and their implications, as well as the broader discussion about consistency in political positions.