Many states have adopted or are considering enacting strict photo identification requirements for voting. But doing so is a waste of time and money: The laws will not prevent election fraud, and these states will surely face protracted litigation with an uncertain outcome. Voter ID advocates claim that the requirement is a common-sense tool to make our elections more secure. Yet that assertion is fundamentally flawed. A fraudster truly intent on perpetrating this kind of electoral shenanigans would likely have no qualms about stealing someone’s identity or otherwise obtaining a fake ID to satisfy the requirement.
Nevertheless, as President Trump and his aides continue to make unsubstantiated claims of massive voter fraud in last year’s presidential election, more states are seeking to impose stricter voting rules. Iowa and West Virginia are both poised to enact a strict photo ID requirement. Arkansas lawmakers just passed a voter ID bill in response to a state Supreme Court decision from 2013, while also approving a ballot measure for 2018 that would amend the state’s constitution to permit voter IDs. And Missouri voters amended their state’s constitution in 2016 to allow a voter ID rule.
But in-person voter impersonation — the only kind of election fraud a voter ID would prevent — is virtually nonexistent. One researcher found that there were, at most, 31 possible instances of voter impersonation out of 1 billion ballots cast between 2000 and 2014. In last November’s elections there were only a handful of documented cases of voter fraud.
Full Article: The False Promise of Voter ID.