Even after deciding Tuesday to reconsider this new regulation, the three board members still said they believe that expired IDs should be allowed.

“What we are after is to find out if this person representing themselves at the polls is who they say they are,” said Chairman Charles Judd. “Then we have achieved what we need to achieve.”

But the question, Judd said, is whether the board has the authority to redefine what constitutes a valid ID at the polls.

Vice Chairman Kimberly Bowers said expired IDs should be accepted because the free photo IDs issued by the state for voters without any form of identification do not have expiration dates.

“Since we have established that our IDs won’t have an expiration date, why are we so concerned about a DMV ID? Aren’t we looking at creating uniformity across the commonwealth?” Bowers said.

Several Democratic lawmakers also sent letters to the board, urging them to keep in place the new regulation that would allow expired IDs.

“The board finalized the regulation in question on June 10, 2014, over a year after the legislation was approved by the General Assembly and after soliciting public comment,” said a letter signed by 18 Democratic state senators.