Racial and Political Inequalities in State Voter ID Laws

Abstract

Voter ID laws have become increasingly popular throughout the states since the passage of the Help America Vote Act in 2002. Currently, thirty-four state legislatures have adopted laws that require voters to present identification before casting a ballot. Supporters have lauded voter ID laws as necessary to prevent voter fraud. Critics, on the other hand, contend that these laws disenfranchise vulnerable populations, such as racial minorities and the poor. This controversy has resulted in numerous legal battles across the states and the courts have increasingly looked to political scientists for answers. Given the relative speed at which states are adopting voter ID laws, there is a limited amount of empirical research on the why states are choosing to pass ID laws and the impact of these new voting laws on turnout and political behavior. My dissertation helps to alleviate this research disparity. Three empirical projects on 1) the adoption of ID laws, 2) their impact on the 2012 presidential election, and 3) how the framing of information on ID laws affects minorities, comprise the body of the dissertation. To complete these projects, I analyzed secondary survey data, compiled original state-level data sets spanning 2003 to 2012, and conducted surveys with embedded experiments. I explored and relied on the theories of Innovation of Diffusion, Policy Feedback Effects, and Reactance to develop and test empirical hypotheses surrounding voter ID laws. In my analysis of the adoption of voter ID laws, I find that the diffusion of voter ID laws is not only driven by partisanship; it is also influenced by state demographic features such as the percentage of Hispanics and those living in poverty. During the 2012 election, voter ID laws negatively impacted the turnout of registered Hispanic voters. This effect is significant even after controlling for the possession of a valid photo ID. Finally, I find evidence of an interpretive policy feedback effect from voter ID laws among blacks. Black respondents who are exposed to information framing voter ID laws as necessary to prevent fraud had significantly lower levels of political efficacy.