Posted by Jay Livingston
Immediately following the Supreme Court decision gutting the Voting Rights Act, some states rushed to enact voter ID laws. The states had previously been unable to get pre-clearance for these laws because of their likely disproportionate suppression of racial-ethnic minority voting.
A comment on the previous post questioned that conclusion and asked if there were evidence. Admittedly, this is a little like asking for evidence on the sylvan location of ursine defecation or the religious preference of the bishop of Rome.
But yes, there is evidence. A couple of years ago Gabriel R. Sanchez, Stephen A. Nuño, and Matt A. Barreto surveyed registered and likely voters in the great state of Texas. Their findings showed that the more stringent the requirements for valid ID, the greater the disparity between Blacks and Whites. Those requirements include these criteria
- Up to date
- Matching Name – the name must exactly match the voter registration (too bad if you got married and changed your name on one but not the other)
- Matching Address – the address must match exactly the voter registration
a sizable segment of Latino, Asian, and African American voters will need to overcome additional hurdles if the courts uphold the Texas photo-ID law. For example, those lacking the required identification may need to purchase a copy of their birth certificate to obtain a valid state issued identification card. Furthermore, the time costs required to go to a state department to obtain a state issued ID, or a driver’s license office for a new driver’s license.As I said in that previous post, a gap of even three percentage points can swing a close election. The 13-point gap between Blacks and Whites can have much greater consequences.
Sanchez’s blog post with more information and links to the original research is here.
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