Voter ID –
Protecting the Integrity of
Elections
Hans A. von Spakovsky
Senior Legal Fellow
Center for Legal & Judicial Studies
The Heritage Foundation
hans.vonspakovsky@heritage.org
Virginia Senate Bill No. 1256
Individuals voting in person must show
either:
 Virginia driver’s license
 U.S. passport
 Photo ID issued by local, state, or federal
government
 Student photo ID issued by Virginia
college
 Employee photo ID issued by employer
 Photo voter registration card
Free Photo ID
Senate Bill No. 1256 specifies that the
Virginia State Board of Elections will
provide (through General Registrars):
“voter registration cards containing the
voter’s photograph and signature for free
for those voters who do not have one of
the forms of identification specified…”
Claims Made about Voter ID

“It will impose considerable inconvenience and
expense to solve a problem – voter
impersonation – that simply does not exist.”
Richmond Times-Dispatch, March 6, 2013

It is un-American…
Virginia Democratic Party

It is a poll tax…
Virginia Del. Jennifer McClellan and Sen. Donald McEachin

It suppresses the vote of minorities, the elderly
and the poor.
Brennan Center
Voter ID Can Prevent
 Impersonation
fraud
 Voting under fraudulent or fictitious
registrations – both as to the identity or the
residential address of the voter
 Voting by illegal aliens
 Double voting by individuals registered in
more than one state
Voter ID is not “un-American”

Americans overwhelmingly support voter ID as a
common-sense reform
 That support crosses all racial, ethnic, and party
lines
 Quinnipiac University Poll of Virginia voters
(Feb. 21, 2013) who support photo ID to vote:

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75% of all voters
79% of Whites & 66% of Blacks
95% of R’s; 57% of D’s, & 78% of I’s
77% of Men and 74% of Women
Are all of these voters “un-American?”
Voter ID is Not a Poll Tax!
 Every
state that has imposed a photo ID
requirement provides a free ID to anyone
who doesn’t have one
 This issue was raised in several of the
unsuccessful lawsuits filed against state
voter ID laws
 Courts have rejected the claim that
incidental costs associated with obtaining
an ID are poll tax
Common Cause of Georgia v.
Billups
439 F.Supp.2d 1294, 1354 (N.D. Ga. 2006)
“[Such an argument] represents a dramatic
overstatement of what fairly constitutes a ‘poll
tax.’ Thus, the imposition of tangential burdens
does not transform a regulation into a poll tax.
Moreover, the cost of time and transportation
cannot plausibly qualify as a prohibited poll tax
because those same ‘costs’ also results from
voter registration and in-person voting
requirements, which one would not reasonably
construe as a poll tax.”
Voter ID Does NOT Suppress
Turnout or Prevent Anyone From
Voting
In federal lawsuit against Georgia’s voter ID law, ACLU &
NAACP claimed there were hundreds of thousands of
voters w/out ID – couldn’t find a single witness unable to
vote:
“[This] failure to identify those individuals ‘is particularly
acute’ in light of Plaintiffs’ contention that a large
number of Georgia voters lack acceptable Photo
ID….[T]he fact that Plaintiffs, in spite of their efforts, have
failed to uncover anyone ‘who can attest to the fact that
he/she will be prevented from voting’ provides
significant support for a conclusion that the photo ID
requirement does not unduly burden the right to vote.”
Common Cause of Georgia v. Billups, 504 F.Supp.2d 1333, 1380 (N.D. Ga. 2007)
Indiana Democratic Party v. Rokita
458 F.Supp.2d 775, 822-823 (S.D. Ind. 2006)
“Despite apocalyptic assertions of
wholesale voter disenfranchisement,
Plaintiffs have produced not a single piece
of evidence of any identifiable registered
voter who would be prevented from voting
pursuant to [the photo ID law] because of
his or her inability to obtain the necessary
photo identification.”
Crawford v. Marion County Election
Board
553 U.S. 181 (2008)

U.S. Supreme Court upheld Indiana’s photo ID
law in 2008 as constitutional in an opinion
written by Justice John Paul Stevens, calling it
the strictest law in the country:
“[F]lagrant examples of such fraud…have been
documented throughout this Nation’s history by
respected historians and journalists, that
occasional examples have surfaced in recent
years…that…demonstrate that not only is the
risk of voter fraud real but that it could affect the
outcome of a close election.”
Georgia Compared to Other States
 2008



4 million voters – largest turnout in state’s
history
Democratic turnout up 6.1 % points – 5th
largest increase in nation
Overall turnout up 6.7 % points – 2nd largest
increase in nation
 2010

General Election vs. 2004
General Election vs. 2006
50.4% of registered blacks vote vs. 42.9% in
2006
Indiana Compared to Other States
 2008



Turnout of Democratic voters increased 8.32
% points – largest increase in nation
59.2% of Black VAP voted vs. only 53.8% in
2004
Pres. Obama won – 1st Democrat since 1964
 2010

General Election vs. 2004
General Election
Black share of vote went from 7% in 2008 to
12% in 2010
University of Missouri Study

Turnout increased by 2 percentage points
overall in Indiana in 2006 in first election after
voter law in effect;
 No evidence that counties with higher
percentages of minority, poor, elderly, or lesseducated populations suffered any reduction in
voter turnout:
 “[T]he only consistent and statistically significant
impact of photo ID in Indiana is to increase voter
turnout in counties with a greater percentage of
Democrats relative to other counties.”
Jeffrey Milyo, “The Effects of Photographic Identification on Voter Turnout: A County
Level Analysis (2007)
University of Delaware & University
of Nebraska-Lincoln

Examined data from 2000, 2002, 2004 & 2006
elections;
 Found voter ID laws do not affect turnout,
including across racial/ethnic/socioeconomic
lines:
 “[C]oncerns about voter identification laws
affecting turnout are much ado about nothing.”
Jason Mycoff, Michael Wagner, & David Wilson, “The Empirical Effect of VoterID Laws: Present or Absent (2009)
American University

Survey of registered voters in Maryland, Indiana,
and Mississippi
 Less than 0.5% had neither a photo ID nor
citizenship documentation
 “[S]howing a photo ID as a requirement for
voting does not appear to be a serious problem
in any of the states” because “[a]lmost all
registered voters have an acceptable form of
photo ID.”
“Voter IDs Are Not the Problem: A Survey of Three States,” Center for
Democracy & Election Management (2008)
You Cannot Function Without ID
in Today’s America
Photo ID is needed to:



Open bank accounts
Cash a check
Rent cars
 Check into a hotel
 Board an airplane
 Buy cigarettes
 Buy alcohol
 See a doctor
 Apply for food stamps or
Medicaid
 Send a package through UPS
 Buy a gun
 Get a prescription filled
 Access federal buildings
 Get into a federal courthouse
Loving v. Virginia
388 U.S. 1 (1967)
 “The
freedom to marry has long been
recognized as one of the vital personal
rights essential to the orderly pursuit of
happiness by free men.”
 “Marriage
is one of the ‘basic civil rights
of man,’ fundamental to our very
existence and survival.”
New York City Marriage License

Both parties must provide name, current address, country and
date of birth, name and country of birth of both parents,
Social Security number, and marital history.

Application fee is $35, payable by credit card or money order.

Both parties must present proper ID:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Non Driver ID Card with photograph
Driver’s license with photograph
Learners Permit with photograph
Active US Military ID
Passport
US Certificate of Naturalization
US Alien Registration Card
US Employment Authorization Card
Marriage License, City of Philadelphia


Application fee is $80 payable only by cash or money order.
Applicants must produce a CURRENT, VALID PHOTO ID:





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
a driver’s license
non-driver’s license
international driver’s license
passport
military I.D.
resident alien card or consulate card
Applicants must also provide a Social Security card or any other
form of I.D. issued by an official entity which reflects the applicant’s
Social Security number.
The City of Philadelphia advises that “NO APPLICATIONS WILL BE
TAKEN WITHOUT THESE DOCUMENTS.”
Marriage License in Fairfax County,
Virginia

Both parties must appear before the Clerk to
obtain a license and must be 18 years of age
or older (proof of age is required with
EITHER A VALID DRIVER’S LICENSE
WITH PICTURE, PASSPORT OR MILITARY
IDENTIFICATION).

If a party is 16 or 17 years of age a parent
must appear with identification.

Application fee is $30 payable by cash or
credit card
Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights
Washington, D.C. Office
Voter ID is Not Only Answer

Other measures are needed to secure integrity
of elections:



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ID for absentee ballots (KS, PA, AL)
Proof of citizenship to register to vote (KS, GA, AZ)
(Obama DOJ agreed GA law not discr. under VRA)
Use of jury summons forms to correct registration
records
Participation in new Kansas cross-check program
Database comparisons with federal databases &
county/state records
Fraud investigation unit at State Board