The record · Topic 02 of 15

Requiring photo ID to vote

How much do people want it

84% Republicans 98% · Democrats 67% Ranks 2nd of 15 — the higher the rank, the more Americans agree Polling by Gallup, October 2024 — confirmed by the Pew Research Center, August 2025

What got approved

Nothing became law. It reached a vote only by being bundled with a bill about something else.

Two separate bills

1. Written and numbered separately

One bill was about photo ID. A different bill, with its own number, was about stopping members of Congress trading stocks. Two bills, two subjects.

20–21 July 2026

2. The two were combined into one

A House committee put the photo ID text inside the stock trading bill. The House then agreed to vote on them together.

22 July 2026

3. The House passed the combined bill, 232 to 198

Every Republican who voted voted yes. Thirteen Democrats joined them, 198 voted against, and one member did not vote.

That result cannot tell you what anyone thought about photo ID, because the same vote also answered the stock trading question. A member against one and for the other had a single button for both. See polling qualifications.

Since 23 July 2026

4. It stopped in the Senate

A senator asked to pass it without holding a vote and another senator objected, so that didn't happen. It had a first reading in August and nothing since. It is not law, and it dies automatically when this Congress ends in January 2027 unless the Senate acts.

What could have been

A bill about photo ID alone was never brought to a vote.

While this ranks 2nd of 15 for agreement, the only vote it has ever had was one where members were answering two questions at once.

The photo ID bill existed on its own, with its own number. It was never voted on by itself. Instead its text was moved into a different bill about a different subject, and that is the only vote there is.

The other half of that bill is also on this list. See stopping members of Congress trading stocks — same event, same outcome, different topic.

Additional notes

Nothing to report. Where a government department changes a rule affecting this topic, it appears here — never counted as the government getting something done. Why.

Where these came from

Every line above is checkable.

Office of the Clerk, U.S. House — every recorded vote, by member
House Rules Committee — the documents combining bills before a vote
Congress.gov — search the bill number given on this page
Gallup — Americans Endorse Both Early Voting and Voter Verification, fielded 1 to 12 October 2024. 84% favor requiring photo identification to vote. This is the one topic on the record not measured by the Program for Public Consultation, so it has no entry in their questionnaire.
Pew Research Center — Majority of Americans Continue to Back Expanded Early Voting, Voting by Mail, Voter ID, surveyed 3,554 adults from 4 to 10 August 2025. 83% favor requiring government-issued photo identification to vote: Republicans 95%, Democrats 71%.
Pew Research Center — the same question asked in January 2024, of 5,140 adults. 81% in favor: Republicans 95%, Democrats 69%. Support has been stable across three surveys and two pollsters.
Three surveys, two pollsters, three years, all landing in the same place. We keep the older figures on the page with their dates rather than replacing them. Why dates matter more than age.

Found a mistake?

Corrections are made on the page, dated, with what changed left where you can see it. See the corrections log, or write to info@fundamentallyhuman.com and tell us.