Want to vote?

You need it to rent a car, buy drinks or write a check.

Now, you might need it to vote.

In hopes of preventing voter fraud, the Idaho House State Affairs Committee approved a bill this week that would require voters to show their IDs in order to receive a ballot.

Some legislators are confident it will pass the upcoming house vote.

"It seems like there are so many things happening nationwide each time we have elections. There are more people voting more than once, or who shouldn't be voting in that election," said Mary Lou Shepherd, member of the State Affairs Committee who voted in favor of the bill. "We definitely need to do something."

The bill calls for registered voters to show a photo ID to fill out a ballot. Forms of ID could include a state driver's license, passport, tribal identification card or student ID issued by a high school or other accredited institutions.

"At first I was worried about it," Shepherd said, adding that she feared it would deter voters who didn't have IDs.

But the bill has a provision for that. Anyone without an ID would have to sign an identification affidavit.

Signing a false name would be considered a felony.

"This gives them plenty of reason why they should not (commit perjury)," Shepherd said.

Rep. Phil Hart, R-Athol, said he supports the bill, though he hasn't read it.

"I do think we need to tighten up the way we run our elections, and make sure those people who are voting are entitled to vote," Hart said. "I think voting is a sacred right, so it's something we need to be really careful about."

The Legislature has been talking about the need for such a bill for the past few years, he added, prompted by suspicions over odd voting trends.

"There are stories of people whose precinct would vote all at once, and then another would experience a similar phenomenon a couple hours later," he said. "I think there's been some concerns for a few years that we might have a problem."

Rep. George Sayler, D-Coeur d'Alene, said he doesn't approve of penalizing a false signature on the affidavit as a felony.

"A felony implies they could go to prison, and we have a problem with prison populations growing and creating additional cost to the state," Sayler said. "Right now we're trying to figure out ways to save money."

A misdemeanor would still incur a hefty fine, he pointed out.

"We haven't even had voter ID before," he said. "To go from nothing to a felony seems a bit of a stretch."

House Majority Leader Mike Moyle said he authored the bill to keep people honest.

"I'm concerned by how folks can vote with no photo ID required. The staffer just looks down at a list of names," Moyle said. "I think everybody realizes that keeping our right to vote as free of fraud as possible is a good thing."

Penalizing false signatures as a felony would be consistent with Idaho's current penalty for perjury, he said.

"There's a lot of people who gave their blood, sweat and tears so we could have the ability to vote," he said. "If somebody is voting fraudulently, I have no problem with them being a felon."

Kootenai County Clerk Dan English, also chief elections officer for the county, said voters have pointed out to him that other states already have an ID requirement.

"We do have a lot of people who have moved here from other states where they do already have voter ID," English said. "So they actually get a little suspicious when they got in to vote and say, 'Do we have to show our ID?' and we say, 'No.'"

The county hasn't had any instances of voting fraud, English said, but this provision would help preclude such an incident.

Most important, he said, it would bolster public confidence in the system.

"If you have to show ID to rent a movie, you should certainly have to show it for something as important as voting," English said.

The house vote is scheduled to occur the first week of March.

If the bill passes, it will take effect in July.