The battle over voter ID

Most of the new voting laws introduced by Republicans would require voters to show identification to cast in-person or absentee ballots. Republicans claim ID is necessary to ensure fair and safe elections, despite repeated studies over decades that found that people voting illegally are vanishingly rare. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton spent 22,000 staff work hours in 2020 investigating voter fraud, and came up with only 16 cases of voters using wrong addresses. Democrats claim ID laws will disenfranchise some of the 21 million Americans who don’t have a government-issued photo ID. The American Civil Liberties Union says voter ID laws disproportionately affect poor people and minorities who might not own cars or driver’s licenses. It cited a 2014 Government Accountability Office study that found strict photo ID laws of the kind that are in effect in seven states reduce turnout by 2 to 3 percentage points—enough to change the outcome of close elections. But other studies have found little or no effect, or even increased turnout, possibly because voter ID laws mobilize Democratic groups to help voters obtain ID and to launch get-out-the-vote drives in Black and Hispanic neighborhoods.