Sen. Tim Kaine, Virginia Democrat, on Sunday rejected calls for a national voter ID mandate, saying instead state legislatures should pass their own voter identification laws.
The White House and Republicans have pointed to the thousands of noncitizen voters shown to have been added to New Jersey’s voting rolls as more evidence to back the GOP’s voter ID legislation known as the SAVE Act.
New Jersey Democratic Gov. Mikie Sherrill said the noncitizens could register because of an “error” in the state’s software system that allows customers at its Motor Vehicle Commission to register to vote and that fewer than 400 cast ballots in the last election.
Mr. Kaine said on “Fox News Sunday” that New Jersey already has voter ID and its software error was a “very unfortunate glitch.”
“Importantly, it wasn’t that individuals were trying to vote illegally,” he said.
“There was a computer glitch that when they registered for driver’s licenses and said they were non-citizens, the glitch got them mistakenly classified as citizens and registered them to vote.”
Mr. Kaine said, the “right answer” is a voter ID law passed at the state level in New Jersey, noting, “As you know, Virginia has a voter ID law that’s sort of been acceptable, whether our governors are Democrats or Republicans, it’s worked.
“My Virginians are not telling me we need to have a one-size-fits-all voter ID requirement for the entire nation.”
Voter ID requirements vary from state to state, with some states requiring a government photo ID at the polls, while others may ask for a college identification or some other form of ID.
As of July 2026, 36 states required voters to show identification at the polls on Election Day in order to cast a ballot, but many states offer exceptions to these laws.
Among these states, 24 require that voters show ID with a photo, with certain exceptions. Twelve states did not clearly require photo ID.
The remaining 14 states do not require voters to provide identification to cast ballots at the polls.
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