Title: Study: voter ID laws don’t reduce voter fraud — or voter turnout - Vox
Headings: A new study finds voter ID laws don’t reduce voter fraud — or voter turnout
A new study finds voter ID laws don’t reduce voter fraud — or voter turnout
The laws don’t seem to do what critics fear or proponents hope.
What the latest study found
Other research suggests voter ID laws have limited to no effect
That doesn’t make voter ID laws okay — far from it
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Credible allegations of in-person voter impersonation versus total ballots cast in national general elections
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Content: Despite the legal and political battles over voter ID laws, they don’t really seem to do much of anything. The researchers caution that their results “should be interpreted with caution” and that they “do not see our results as the last word on this matter — quite the opposite.” Still, the findings join a growing body of research that suggests voter ID laws have a much smaller effect than critics feared and proponents hoped. Democrats argue that the laws discriminate against minority and younger voters who are more likely to vote for Democratic candidates, because they’re less likely to have the money, transportation means, and flexible work hours needed to obtain a required ID. Republicans, on the other hand, insist that the measures are meant only to protect against voter fraud, although in some cases they’ve admitted that the intent is to make it harder for some groups to vote. The authors of the new study don’t view their findings as a go-ahead for passing more voter ID laws. Citing the laws’ apparent ineffectiveness against voter fraud, they argue the opposite: “ This result weakens the case for adopting such laws in the first place.” What the latest study found
The study drew on multiple sets of data to evaluate the impact of voter ID laws. On voter turnout, the researchers drew on a data set from Catalist — which collects and sells voter registration and turnout records, as well as data for unregistered voters from data firms, retailers, marketing companies, and other commercial sources.