Forty-nine years ago last week, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the historic Voting Rights Act of 1965. Ever since then, it seems, we’ve been chipping away at it.

Last Wednesday, on the anniversary of the signing of that landmark bill into law, the Virginia State Board of Elections approved a measure that will further restrict its voter identification criteria, requiring voters to present a current photo ID or one that has expired within the past year in order to cast a ballot.

In June, the elections board had determined that expired but otherwise valid forms of identification permitted under the new mandate would be accepted at the polls. Then, State Sen. Mark Obenshain (R-Harrisonburg), who was narrowly defeated by Attorney General Mark Herring in last year’s statewide election, expressed the belief that driver’s licenses and other forms of identification must be current or recently expired (30 days or less) in order to be valid. An expired license more than 30...