A Decade of Voter Identification Laws: The Effect of Stricter Requirements on Turnout

Since 2000, about half of the states have strengthened voter identification requirements, ostensibly to prevent election fraud. Critics assert that these laws fail to increase the integrity of elections and depress turnout by creating a barrier to voting that discriminates against low-income, less educated, elderly and minority Americans. To estimate the causal effect of identification requirements on turnout, the team used a research design that takes advantage of policy variation across states and time, and incorporates the most recent national election data from 2010. Findings will inform the inconclusive literature on the subject and the ongoing public debate.