Voter ID Laws: Protecting the Integrity of the U.S. Election?

In Ch.10 of the book, the author talks about some of the recent barriers to voting, specifically voter ID laws. In most U.S. states, voters are required to present a form of identification when voting during an election. However, there has been a lot of tension because 18 states currently require voters to have a government issued photo identification when voting in order to deter voter fraud.

State-by-State In-Effect Voter ID Requirements

People who are against this requirement state that these laws are intended to limit minorities from showing up to polls. The reason for this according to a study done by Barreto, Nuño, and Sanchez, is that minorities have less access to photo I.D.’s. The reason for this is because minorities tend to not have driver’s licenses (the most common form of government identification). The main reason for this is that minorities tend to live in urban areas where people do not need driver’s licenses.

The people who are for voter ID laws believe that these measures will help deter voter fraud. They argue that having a form of government identification will make sure people are not providing a false identity when voting. Furthermore, they argue it will also make sure that the individuals voting are of age, are U.S. citizens, and are residence of a particular state. To get a driver’s license in Virginia, one of the things you will need is a social security number. Therefore, it will automatically omit individuals who are residing in the U.S. illegally from voting.

One of the most interesting findings which has come from the new voter ID laws is alternative ways to determine identification than a government issued ID. Stephen Ansolabehere from Harvard and Eitan Hersh from Tufts determined a way for individuals to use a combination of three out of four unique identifiers as a way to prove identity as accurate as a social security number. By providing three out of four of the following: address, date of birth, gender, and name, there is a 98% match in identification.

Personally, I believe that requiring individuals to show a form of photo identification will help prevent voter fraud. Even though it might be a barrier to vote for some individuals, there is a cost to voting like mentioned in class. Getting a government issued ID is one of these costs. It is a shame that obtaining identification does cost money. However, in order to make sure we are following the requirements to vote, photo identification is a great way to help prevent fraud. Even though Hersh and Ansolabehere have a great potential solution to identification fraud, I am hesitant to incorporate these measures into practice because it is very easy to steal someone’s date of birth, gender, name, and address. However, faking a government photo I.D. which will be checked by a government official is very hard to do successfully.

To conclude, voter identification has been and is going to be a topic which we will see being talked about in the media especially with the midterms coming up. Given the fact that over half of the states require a form of identification and of those, 18 require a form of photo identification. It will be interesting to see the future of voter ID laws and how they will be implemented.

Sources:

https://ballotpedia.org/Voter_identification_laws_by_state

http://stanford.edu/~jgrimmer/comment_final.pdf

http://mattbarreto.com/papers/PS_VoterID.pdf

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2017/02/15/do-voter-identification-laws-suppress-minority-voting-yes-we-did-the-research/?postshare=9981487174946576&utm_term=.5716bf45ba58

https://www.wired.com/story/voter-id-law-algorithm/

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2012/08/voter_id_laws_why_do_minorities_lack_id_to_show_at_the_polls_.html

https://www.dmv.org/va-virginia/id-cards.php

http://www.ncsl.org/research/elections-and-campaigns/voter-id.aspx

4 Responses to "Voter ID Laws: Protecting the Integrity of the U.S. Election?"

Andrew Griffin says:

March 25, 2018 at 9:19 pm

Holden-

You describe an interesting tension in your post: the tension between promoting high levels of voter participation and that of preventing voter fraud. The Supreme Court’s decision to uphold voter ID laws has not ended the debate over this issue of voter ID laws. Ultimately, it seems as though this debate is far from over in the American consciousness.

Personally, I share your sentiment that voter fraud must be prevented. Certainly there need to be strict regulations in place to prevent anyone from undermining our democratic process by impersonating someone else. However, I share the concern that people who would normally vote may be financially constrained by voter ID laws.

I believe that we should keep voter ID laws, but the government should allow easier access to them for poor Americans. If the government were to subsidize the creation of photo IDs, this would allow poor people to get their voices heard in the government whilst preventing voter fraud. It would allow our democracy to be participatory as well as well-regulated. Essentially, we could “have our cake and eat it too.”

-Drew
Andrew Griffin says:

March 25, 2018 at 9:19 pm

Holden-

You describe an interesting tension in your post: the tension between promoting high levels of voter participation and that of preventing voter fraud. The Supreme Court’s decision to uphold voter ID laws has not ended the debate over this issue of voter ID laws. Ultimately, it seems as though this debate is far from over in the American consciousness.

Personally, I share your sentiment that voter fraud must be prevented. Certainly there need to be strict regulations in place to prevent anyone from undermining our democratic process by impersonating someone else. However, I share the concern that people who would normally vote may be financially constrained by voter ID laws.

I believe that we should keep voter ID laws, but the government should allow easier access to them for poor Americans. If the government were to subsidize the creation of photo IDs, this would allow poor people to get their voices heard in the government whilst preventing voter fraud. It would allow our democracy to be participatory as well as well-regulated. Essentially, we could “have our cake and eat it too.”

-Drew
Haley Overlander says:

March 27, 2018 at 2:08 pm

Holden,

Thank you for your post. Voter ID laws are an incredibly important topic of debate, and something that needs to be addressed. I want to point out that often Democrats fight for weaker voter ID laws, while Republicans strongly push for strict voter ID laws, does this not say something about what socio-economic class is most likely being affected by these voter ID laws? For example, “by instituting strict voter ID laws, states can alter the electorate and shift outcomes toward those on the right…where these laws are enacted, the influence of Democrats and liberals wanes and the power of Republicans grows…unsurprisingly, these strict ID laws are passed almost exclusively by Republican legislatures” (Hajnal, Lajevardi, and Nielson). With this in mind, however, both parties have their reasons for wanting specific voter ID laws.

As stated by contributors to the Washington Post, “proponents [of voter ID laws] claim that ID laws are necessary to reduce fraud and to restore trust in the democratic system [while] critics claim that voter ID laws serve as effective barriers that limit the legitimate participation of racial and ethnic minorities and other disadvantaged groups” (Hajnal, Lajevardi, and Nielson). Though both sides have a sound argument, I believe that the issue of access to voting is key. If minorities who already have trouble getting to the polls on election day, can’t even vote once they arrive due to the need for a state issued ID, how is our country possibly hearing the voices of all of its people? With strict voter ID laws in place, meaning one has to present a state issued photo ID in order to vote, we are silencing the voices of a large minority population.

These voter ID laws “have a disproportionate effect on minorities, which is exactly what you would expect given that members of racial and ethnic minorities are less apt to have valid photo ID” (Hajnal, Lajevardi, and Nielson). Given this information, and the knowledge that the ‘hidden’ goal of the Republican party is to silence the voices of minorities who will most likely vote against them, should we not take voter ID laws into the question of popular sovereignty? I believe that voter participation should be an issue to address for our nation’s democracy, rather than a party specific debate.

Haley

Citations:
Hajnal, Zoltan L., et al. “Analysis | Do Voter Identification Laws Suppress Minority Voting? Yes. We Did the Research.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 15 Feb. 2017, http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2017/02/15/do-voter-identification-laws-suppress-minority-voting-yes-we-did-the-research/?utm_term=.f6b062faa74a.
Kelly Gough says:

March 27, 2018 at 2:48 pm

Holden,

Thank you for the well supported post. You bring up a very prominent issue and do a good job summarizing both point of view as far as stricter voter ID laws. I agree that something needs to be done to decrease the amount of voter ID fraud but I am not sure that there is a simple solution to this issue.

Although it may be true that many city-dwellers do not have a license due to ability to take public transit when needed or just walk, I do not understand why it is too difficult to go and obtain a license. While dealing with the DMV is annoying, licenses are fairly inexpensive and have long expiration dates so there is a low barrier to obtaining one.

Therefore, I believe that their should be stricter voter ID laws because I just do not believe it is truly that difficult to obtain a license, if you want to.

I think for people to make the argument that it is a hidden agenda for a specific party, is a little far fetched. Everyone has the opportunity to obtain photo ID, while it is likely true that it is harder for some than others, everyone has to go through the same process to obtain one so I do not know how valid I find that argument.

Thanks again!

Comments are closed.