AUGUSTA — The sponsor of a bill to require voters to show photographic identification before receiving their ballots said he will continue to solicit support for his bill despite a 7-5 committee vote against it Wednesday afternoon.

Sen. Ron Collins, R-Wells, said he sponsored LD 197 because of “finger pointing and accusations” he saw going around during a recount last year in the Senate District 25 election in the Falmouth area.

“It kind of hurt the integrity of the voting process in Maine,” said Collins. “It really bothered me. … To maintain the integrity of the voting process, showing a personal identification is not a big burden.”

Maine law requires first-time voters to provide identification and proof of residency to register, but identification is not required to vote thereafter. For Rep. Robert Saucier, D-Presque Isle, that’s enough.

I see no value of adding an ID requirement other than just restricting people from voting,” said Saucier. “It is more of a harassment to voters than anything else.”

The spread of voter ID laws in the U.S. is seen by some at the national level as an attempt by Republicans to push some voter blocs, such as immigrants and young people, out of elections. However, Collins said that wasn’t his intent.

“I don’t think that’s a valid point at all,” he said. “We have to show ID for practically everything we do in today’s society. … It just surprises me that this should even be a discussion. It should just be automatic.”

Rep. Louis Luchini of Ellsworth, House chairman of the Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee, said the bill would yield a host of “unintended consequences” such as creating confusion at polling places and putting a burden on would-be voters who don’t have photo IDs because they lost them or never applied for one.

Instituting voter ID is not a new concept in Maine. The Legislature rejected attempts to bring voter ID to Maine in 2011 and again in 2012, instead directing then-Secretary of State Charlie Summers to conduct a study of voting laws. That came shortly after Summers told lawmakers that he had discovered that a “substantial number of noncitizens [more than 150] had possibly registered to vote in Maine.”

Former Maine Republican Party Chairman Charlie Webster also alleged voter fraud by up to 200 college students in 2011, but a review by Summers found no evidence that Webster’s claim was true.

A total of 31 states require voters to provide identification at the polls. Sixteen of those states require photo identification.

Committee members voting in favor of the bill were Collins; Sen. Scott Cyrway, R- Benton; Rep. Sheldon Hanington, R-Lincoln; Rep. Beth Turner, R-Burlington; and Rep. Kathleen Dillingham, R-Oxford.

Rep. Jonathan Kinney of Limington was the only Republican to vote with Democrats against the bill. Sen. John Patrick, D-Rumford, was absent.