Democratic Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia was caught making a false claim about his own state’s voter identification laws during an interview with ABC News host Jonathan Karl. Warner claimed Virginia requires voters to present photo identification, only for Karl, a Virginia voter himself, to immediately correct him. The uncomfortable exchange came as Warner attempted to explain why Democrats continue to oppose national voter ID requirements despite overwhelming public support for the policy. The clip was subsequently circulated online, putting Warner’s inaccurate claim before a much larger audience.
The exchange occurred during Warner’s appearance on the Sunday, July 19th, broadcast of ABC News’ “This Week.” Karl had been questioning the Virginia Democrat about election security and opposition to the SAVE America Act, legislation that includes proof-of-citizenship and voter identification provisions. Rather than debating every section of the legislation, Karl narrowed his question specifically to requiring photo identification when registering and voting.
“Now, I understand that you and I think every other Democrat oppose this so-called SAVE America Act, and there’s a lot of reasons that you’ve put forward,” Karl began. “But let me ask you very narrowly on the issue of photo ID, requiring photo ID to register to vote, to vote. Is this something that Democrats should get behind?” Karl then pointed to the broad public support for such a requirement, telling Warner, “We have very—80-some percent of Americans, 71 percent of Democrats say they favor this.”
Warner responded by claiming Virginia already had the type of identification system Karl was describing. “You know what? In Virginia, we have voter ID and photo ID. I got to show my—” Warner said before Karl stopped him. As shown in the clip shared by RNC Research, Karl immediately told the senator, “That’s actually not the case.”
“I mean, I’m a Virginia voter. You don’t need to show a photo ID in Virginia,” Karl continued. He explained that voters may present “a wide range of things” as identification and that someone who does not have one of those documents may sign an affidavit attesting to his identity. Karl’s correction directly contradicted Warner’s claim that Virginia required photo identification to vote.
Warner acknowledged the affidavit process but attempted to defend his original statement by arguing that those ballots could later be challenged. “You can sign an affidavit, and those become ballots that, if you want to contest later, can be contested,” he said. Karl pushed back again, noting plainly that photo identification was still “not required.” Warner then retreated to the broader claim that Virginia has “voter ID of one form or another,” a very different standard from the photo ID requirement he initially claimed was already in place.
Watch Warner get corrected after making the false voter ID claim here:
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Karl then returned to the question Warner had been avoiding. “Should that be a national standard, that you have to show an ID?” he asked. Warner indicated that he could support some form of standardized government-issued identification, saying, “If you can show any photo that has government stamped, it would be fine.”
The senator then argued that states should not allow some government-issued documents while rejecting others. “Certain states will say, ‘We’re going to let you show your NRA gun license, but you can’t show your student ID,’” Warner said. “If you’re going to have a set of IDs, let’s have it across the board as long as it comes from some official point.” Despite appearing to accept Karl’s central argument about an identification standard, Warner quickly pivoted back to attacking the legislation, declaring, “But this is not about voter ID. The SAVE Act is about voter disenfranchisement.”
Warner claimed the legislation would prevent some married women who had changed their names from voting unless they could locate additional documentation. When Karl mentioned voters who lacked identification or passports, Warner urged him to “stay on this for a minute” and cited Republican senators who also opposed the legislation. He then shifted to mail-in voting and accused President Donald Trump of attempting to reduce turnout, saying, “Donald Trump wants to decrease voter participation and undermine confidence in our system.”
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video.