Voter identification is required to vote in many of the 50 United States and U.S. territories. The first laws requiring identification to vote at the polls were passed in 2003, and as of September 2011, 30 U.S. states require some form of photo or non-photo identification. The identification required to submit a ballot differs by state law, and may differ by de facto voting procedures.
Because of laws against any form of poll tax in the United States, voting must be made free to all voters. Several state governments have paid for and distributed free voter IDs to help them comply.[2]
The 2002 federal Help America Vote Act requires any voter who registered by mail and who has not previously voted in a federal election to show current and valid photo identification or a copy of a current utility bill, bank statement, government check, paycheck, or other government document that shows the name and address of the voter. Voters who submitted any of these forms of identification during registration are exempt, as are voters entitled to vote by absentee ballot under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act.
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In 1999, Virginia Governor Jim Gilmore (R) attempted to start a pilot program that required voters to show IDs at the polls. His initiative was blocked by Democrats and the NAACP, and was stopped by court order.[3] His administration had spent and mailed $275,000 worth of free voter ID cards to residents in Arlington and Fairfax counties.[4][5][6] In the aftermath of the 2000 election, where George W. Bush narrowly won Florida by 537 votes, the American public and lawmakers became more receptive to measures against voter fraud. In 2002, President Bush signed the Help America Vote Act into law, which required all first-time voters in federal elections to show photo or non-photo ID upon either registration or arrival at the polling place.[7]
In 2004, Arizona passed a law requiring voters to bring a state-issued photo ID, U.S. passport, U.S. birth certificate, or naturalization papers to the polling place.[10] Similar proposals were discussed in various other states and were passed in some cases. In several states a person's citizenship status is noted on their photo ID.[10][11]
Indiana passed a law in 2008 requiring a photo ID be shown by all voters before casting ballots.[12] Civil rights groups in Indiana launched a lawsuit that reached the Supreme Court, Crawford v. Marion County Election Board. The Court ruled that the law was constitional, paving the way for expanded laws in other states.[13][14]
In 2011, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker (R) and Ohio Governor John Kasich (R) enacted similar laws. Texas Governor Rick Perry placed a voter ID bill as an "emergency item" in 2011, allowing legislators to rush it through the process.[15] Jurisdiction over Texas election procedure is given to the Department of Justice, which must pre-clear the law for approval. Texas law recognizes a weapon permit but not a college ID, raising criticism that the law is unfavorable to young voters, who trend liberal, while favorable to gunowners, who trend conservative.[16] Rhode Island passed a voter ID law in 2011, the only state with a Democratic-controlled legislature to do so.[16] In South Carolina, Gov. Nikki Haley (R) enacted a strict law requiring government-issued IDs at the polls, and supplied voters with free IDs and carpools to state DMVs.[17] Wisconsin's Voter ID law provided free IDs to people who did not have them. In practice, state employees at the DMV were instructed to provide the IDs for free only if people specifically asked to have their fee waived. A Wisconsin state employee was fired for telling other employees that the IDs were free by law, and that they should inform people who may need them to vote.[18][19]
Evidence of voter fraud was never substantiated on a large or organized scale in states that enacted voter ID laws. In 2007, a report prepared by the staff of the federal Election Assistance Commission found that, among experts, "there is widespread but not unanimous agreement that there is little polling place fraud".[20] The report was based on research conducted by a Republican elections lawyer and another expert with liberal leanings.[20] The final version released to the public, however, stated that there was "a great deal of debate on the pervasiveness of fraud."[20] Democrats charged that the commission, with a Republican majority, had altered the conclusion for political reasons, which the commission denied.[20] During the George W. Bush administration, "The [Department of Justice] devoted unprecedented resources to ferreting out polling-place fraud over five years and appears to have found not a single prosecutable case across the country," Slate reported.[21]
The Democratic Party fought the voter identification laws, calling them the GOP war on Voting and a return of Jim Crow disenfranchisement. In general, voter ID laws disproportionally impact traditional Democratic voting blocs of the young, the elderly, naturalized citizens, urban, and highly mobile populations. Civil rights groups were vocal about the laws, saying they disproportionately hurt blacks and Latinos.[22] According to another report commissioned by the Election Assistance Commission, one effect of voter identification laws is lower turnout, especially among members of minorities.[20]
A commonly cited study by New York University's Brennan Center claimed that 11% of the United States population is of voter age, but lacks government-issued photo IDs.[23] A paper in the Harvard Law and Policy Review, “ID at the Polls: Assessing the Impact of Recent State Voter ID Laws on Voter Turnout”(PDF), compares changes in voter turnout between 2002 and 2006 as related to three voting requirement categories – photo ID needed, non-photo ID needed and no identification needed. Key study findings include: 1). “Non-photo ID laws [are] associated with a 2.2% point decline in turnout, and photo ID laws are correlated with a 1.6% point decline.” In a related analysis, the author found a 1.1% decline in turnout in states with strengthened photo ID laws between 2002 and 2006. 2). In 2002, prior to the widespread adoption of photo ID poll requirements, more than 40% of eligible voters in states with no voting ID requirements and more than 35% of voters in states with minimal ID requirements turned out at the polls. By 2006, the percentage of voting-age citizens who turned out in states with no ID requirement or a non-photo ID requirement increased to 42% and 38%, respectively. States requiring a photo voter ID saw the lowest percentage of voter turnout, approximately 37%. 3). Counties with older populations saw an increase in turnout of 1.5%. However, counties with higher Hispanic and Asian-American populations saw a small negative effect on voter turnout as ID laws were tightened. Greater household income positively correlated with voter turnout. 4). Possible variables impacting overall voter turnout include Election Day registration (associated with increases), the presence of an incumbent (a small increase) or a controversial ballot initiative (a 4.6% point increase in voter turnout). Much of the increase in voter turnout can be attributed to news coverage and state-sponsored public outreach.[24]
The Heritage Foundation, a conservative thinktank, disputed the methodology of the study of 900 people. The credibility of the survey was contested by another question, where 14% of respondents said they had both a U.S. birth certificate and naturalization papers.[25] In 2010, the voting age population was an estimated 237.3 million, and the citizen voting age population was 217.5 million. Of those, 186.9 million were registered voters.[26] The Heritage Foundation has pointed to U.S. Department of Transportation records showing that there were 205.8 million valid drivers licenses in 2009, meaning there are 19 million more individuals with photo ID than there are registered voters, as evidence that photo ID is not hard to obtain.[27] Similarly, Kris Kobach, a Republican supporter of Voter ID laws, points to evidence in Kansas that more than 30,000 registered drivers in Kansas are not registered to vote.[28]