Voter ID laws caused a decrease in voter turnout in Kansas and Tennessee in the 2012 general election, according to a report released last month by the federal Government Accountability Office.
Kansas and Tennessee both passed laws in 2011 requiring photo identification to vote on election day.
The GAO report was conducted at the request of several Democratic U.S. senators and took into account stricter voting laws and voter demographic data. GAO officials also looked for instances of voter fraud, considered the primary justification for voter ID laws.
Kansas and Tennessee data from the Federal Census and United State Election Project were compared with data from Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware and Maine.
“Our analysis suggests that the turnout decreases in Kansas and Tennessee beyond decreases in comparison states were attributable to changes in the two states’ voter ID requirements,” the report said.
Minority communities also experienced lower-than-usual voter turnout attributed to voter ID laws, according to the GAO report.
“When estimating effects separately by race, we found that turnout among African-American registrants declined more than turnout among White registrants in Kansas and Tennessee between the 2008 and 2012 general elections, and our analysis suggests that this difference is attributable to changes in those states’ voter ID laws,” the report said.
The authors of the report said the results of the study could not be generalized to states with substantially different photo ID requirements.
Kevin Kennedy, director of Wisconsin’s Government Accountability Board, said last month he believes Wisconsin’s voter ID law would not have a negative effect on voter turnout in November, and may even increase turnout as opponents of the law may be more likely to vote than before.
The U.S. Supreme Court put Wisconsin’s voter ID law on hold Thursday while the justices discuss the merits of the case.
