TomPaine: The Fraud Of Voter ID Laws

[marmar]

The Fraud Of Voter ID Laws
Michael Slater and Nathan Henderson-James
March 06, 2007


Michael Slater is the deputy director of Project Vote and director of its elections administration program. Nathan Henderson-James is the director of Project Vote's strategic writing and research department.

Given the deep interest in ensuring free and fair elections after the controversies in 2000 and 2004, it is little wonder that voter identification requirements have garnered widespread support from Americans, even from progressives, who have traditionally supported increased access to the ballot. After all, who can be against safeguarding the integrity of the voter rolls with such a seemingly simple solution?

Mounting evidence, however, suggests that voter ID laws actually do very little to ensure polling-place integrity, while very clearly suppressing turnout among constituencies that have traditionally struggled to gain a voice in the democratic process.

Just last month, the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University presented new research findings to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission that suggest Latinos, Asian Americans and African Americans are less likely to vote as a result of increasingly restrictive voter ID requirements. The Eagleton study examined the 2004 election and concluded that in states requiring voters to present an ID at the polls, voters were 2.7 percent less likely to vote than in states where voters were merely required to state their names. Latinos were 10 percent less likely to vote, Asian-Americans 8.5 percent less likely to vote and African Americans 5.7 percent less likely to vote. Since the research depended on the November 2004 Current Population Survey (CPS), a data set that has been criticized for its small sample size of minorities, it may actually understate the impact of ID requirement on minority voters.

The Eagleton Institute research is supported by findings from a poll conducted by the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law in November 2006. Their poll, “Citizens without Proof,” found that as many as 11 percent of Americans—more than 21 million individuals—do not have a current, government-issued photo ID. Elderly, poor and minority Americans are more likely to lack government-issued ID. Polling results suggest six million elderly Americans do not possess a government-issued photo ID, 15 percent of voting-age citizens earning under $35,000 a year do not possess such ID and fully 25 percent of voting-age African Americans do not possess this ID. ....(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2007/03/06/the_fraud_of_voter_id_laws.php

[TechBear_Seattle]

1. What is the point of voter ID laws when voting districts are switching to all mail-in ballots?

Washington State has tightened voter ID requirements at the same time the state is pushing counties and municipalities to eliminate polling places and move to all mail-in voting. What gives? :shrug: