PRESS
RELEASES
from Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School
of Law
July 18, 2012
Study: 500,000 Americans Could Face
Significant Challenges to Obtain Photo ID to Vote
Report
Undercuts
Claim That Voters Can Easily Acquire Free IDs
Contact: Erik Opsal, erik.opsal@nyu.edu, 646-292-8356; Madeline
Friedman, madeline.friedman@nyu.edu, 646-292-8357
New York, NY – Nearly 500,000
eligible voters in 10 states with restrictive voter ID laws live in
households without vehicles and reside at least 10 miles from an
ID-issuing office open more than two days a week, a new
Brennan
Center
for Justice study found. Because many of these voters may
not have driver’s licenses — and nearly all live in rural areas with
dwindling public transportation options — it could be significantly
harder for them to get an ID and cast a ballot.
The Brennan Center’s study undercuts the claim by many politicians in
restrictive ID states that eligible voters can easily obtain a free ID
to vote. A federal court considered this issue last week during a trial
over Texas’s voter ID law, and Pennsylvania’s ID law will go before a
state judge next Wednesday.
Audio
of
a media conference call discussing the report is available here.
“The Declaration of Independence says that all men are created equal,
but new voter ID laws are preventing eligible Americans from
participating in our democracy,” said
Keesha
Gaskins,
Senior Counsel at the Brennan Center and co-author of The Challenge of Obtaining Voter
Identification. “Voters find closed offices, long
trips without cars and spotty public transit, and prohibitive costs for
documents needed to get ID. Unless states with voter identification
laws address these barriers now, many eligible citizens could lose
their opportunity to vote this November.”
The Center’s research shows
1
in 10 eligible voters lack the necessary government-issued photo ID
required by new restrictive voter ID laws, including 25 percent of
African-Americans and 18 percent of Americans over 65.
Even if someone seeking photo ID manages to travel to an ID-issuing
office, there is no guarantee it will be open during regular business
hours. In Wisconsin, Alabama, and Mississippi, fewer than half of all
ID-issuing offices are open five days a week. None are open on
weekends. And some offices maintain truly unusual hours: the office in
Woodville, Mississippi is open only on the second Thursday of each
month.
The report also provides an extensive look at the scarcity of
ID-issuing offices in areas heavily populated by people of color and
those in poverty — the exact population that most lack
government-issued photo ID.
In 11 Alabama counties within the rural “black belt,” there are more
than 60,000 eligible black voters but no driver’s license offices open
more than two days per week. In Texas, in 32 counties near the Mexico
border, there are 80,000 Hispanic eligible voters but only two such
ID-issuing offices. Across the voter ID states, many of the offices
with limited hours are located in rural areas with high concentrations
of minority voters.
More than 1 million eligible voters in these 10 photo ID states fall
below the federal poverty line and reside more than 10 miles from the
nearest ID-issuing office. These voters can be particularly affected by
the significant costs of the documentation required to obtain a photo
ID. Birth certificates can cost between $8 and $25. By comparison, the
notorious poll tax — outlawed during the civil rights era — cost $10.64
in current dollars.
“Every American citizen should have the opportunity to vote, but these
restrictive laws could make it harder for hundreds of thousands to
exercise that right,” said
Sundeep
Iyer, Principal Quantitative Analyst at the Center and co-author of the
report. “Instead of making it more difficult for citizens to go
to the polls, we need new laws to modernize our voting system so all
eligible Americans can vote on Election Day while reducing the
potential for fraud or abuse.”
The 10 restrictive voter ID states examined in the report are Alabama,
Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, South Carolina,
Tennessee, Texas, and Wisconsin. Five of the laws are currently in
effect (Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee). The
other five are either awaiting federal approval (Mississippi, South
Carolina, and Texas), on appeal after being found unconstitutional
under state law (Wisconsin), or not scheduled to go into effect until
after 2012 (Alabama).
Read the Brennan Center’s
comprehensive
study on how new restrictive voting laws could make it harder for
millions of eligible Americans to vote. For more information, see our
Election 2012
page.
To set up an interview with one of the Center’s voting experts, contact
Erik Opsal (erik.opsal@nyu.edu, 646-292-8356) or Madeline Friedman
(madeline.friedman@nyu.edu, 646-292-8357).
###
October 3, 2011
Study:
New Voting Restrictions May Affect More than Five Million
NEW
VOTING RESTRICTIONS MAY AFFECT MORE THAN FIVE MILLION; 2012 IMPACT
COULD BE SIGNIFICANT, NEW STUDY SHOWS
Please Contact:
Jeanine Plant-Chirlin |
jeanine.plant-chirlin [at] nyu.edu, w. 646.292.8322, m. 646.265.7721
Andrew Goldston | andrew.goldston [at]
nyu.edu, w. 646.292.8372, m. 917.720.7895
New York – New voting
laws could make it
significantly harder for more than five million eligible voters to cast
ballots in 2012, according to the first comprehensive study of the
laws’ impact.
Widespread voting cutbacks could have a
significant electoral impact
in next year’s hard-fought races, the study concludes. Minorities, poor
and young voters will likely be most affected.
“This is the most significant cutback in
voting rights in decades.
More voters may be affected than the margin of victory in two out of
the past three presidential elections,” said Michael Waldman, the
Center’s executive diector. “In 2012 we should make it easier for every
eligible citizen to vote. Instead, we have made it far harder for too
many. Partisans should not try to tilt the electoral playing field in
this way.”
Voting
Law Changes in 2012 analyzes
the 19 laws and two executive actions that passed in fourteen
states this year, as well as more than 100 bills that were
introduced
but did not pass (some may still pass). The study shows, among other
things:
- The states that have already cut back on voting rights will
provide
171 electoral votes in 2012—63 percent of the 270 needed to win the
presidency.
- Of the 12 battleground states identified by an August Los
Angeles Times analysis
of Gallup polling, five have already cut back on voting rights (and may
pass additional restrictive legislation), and two more are currently
considering cutbacks.
Among the changes in 2011:
- Photo ID laws. At least 34 states
introduced legislation that would require voters to show photo
identification in order to vote. Photo ID bills were signed into law in
seven states: Alabama, Kansas, Rhode Island, South
Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Wisconsin.
By contrast, before the 2011 legislative session, only two states had
ever imposed strict photo ID requirements. The number of states with
laws requiring voters to show government-issued photo identification
has quadrupled in 2011. Eleven percent of American citizens do not
possess a government-issued photo ID; that is over 21 million citizens.
- Proof of Citizenship laws. At least 12 states
introduced legislation that would require proof of citizenship, such as
a birth certificate, to register or vote. Proof of citizenship laws
passed in Alabama, Kansas, and Tennessee.
Previously, only two states had passed proof of citizenship laws, and
only one had put such a requirement in effect. The number of states
with such a requirement has more than doubled.
- Laws making voter registration harder. At
least 13 states introduced bills to end highly popular Election Day and
same-day voter registration, limit voter registration efforts, and
reduce other registration opportunities. Maine passed
a law eliminating Election Day registration, and Ohio
ended its weeklong period of same-day voter registration. Florida
and Texas passed laws restricting voter registration
drives, and Florida and Wisconsin passed
laws making it more difficult for people who move to stay registered
and vote.
- Laws reducing early and absentee voting days. At
least
nine states introduced bills to reduce their early voting
periods, and four tried to reduce absentee voting opportunities. Florida,
Georgia, Ohio, Tennessee, and West Virginia enacted bills
to reduce early voting.
- Laws making it harder to restore voting rights. Two
states—Florida and Iowa—reversed
prior executive actions that made it easier for citizens with past
felony convictions to restore their voting rights, affecting hundreds
of thousands. In effect, both states now permanently disenfranchise
most citizens with past felony convictions.
“These voting law changes are radical and
completely unnecessary.
They especially hurt those who have been historically locked out of our
electoral system, like minorities, poor people, and students. Often
they seem precisely targeted to exclude certain voters,” said Wendy. R.
Weiser, report co-author and Director of the Democracy Program at the
Brennan Center. “After the Florida election fiasco in 2000, it became
clear that the rules of election administration could affect outcomes.
This time, those rules are being altered in a way that will likely hurt
millions.”
“Significantly, these voting law cutbacks
extend well beyond the
most visible and controversial step to require government-issued photo
ID that many citizens don’t have,” said report co-author Lawrence
Norden, deputy director of the Democracy Program and former Chair of
the Ohio Secretary of State’s bipartisan Election Summit and
Conference. “An array of technical moves can add to significant
barriers to the ballot. And it comes at a time when experience has
taught us there are many ways to improve the voting process and expand
access to the franchise while reducing costs.”
Proponents of these laws assert they are
needed to combat voter fraud. An earlier Brennan Center study, The
Truth About Voter Fraud, showed
that such in-person voter impersonation is exceedingly rare. “You are
more likely to be struck by lightening than to commit in-person voter
fraud,” Waldman noted.
You can read a breakdown of the estimate
of 5 million voters impacted here.
You can read more about how 11 percent of
American citizens, or over
21 million citizens, do not possess a government-issued photo ID in Citizens
Without Proof, another earlier Brennan Center publication.