And what's worse -- that Lower Voter Turnout disproportionately impacts "younger and African-American voters."
GAO report: Voter ID laws stunted turnout
by Ben Kamisar, thehill.com -- October 08, 2014
Voter ID laws helped contribute to lower voter turnout in Kansas and Tennessee in 2012, according a new study by the Government Accountability Office.
Congress’s research arm blamed the two states’ laws requiring that voters show identification on a dip in turnout in 2012 -- about 2 percentage points in Kansas and between 2.2 and 3.2 percentage points in Tennessee. Those declines were greater among younger and African-American voters, when compared to turnout in other states.
Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) requested the report in light of last year’s decision by the Supreme Court striking down part of the Voting Rights Act. The decision freed a number of states from a pre-clearance requirement to run all changes to voting laws by the Department of Justice.
[...]
I wonder if there was 2 to 3% incidences of "Voter Fraud" (out of votes cast) in those states,
prior to their enactment of these stricter Voter ID requirements?
IF NOT, then these stricter Voter ID Laws are now demonstrably harming our right to Vote, not helping or protecting it.
And these stricter Voter ID Laws are effectively acting as a hidden "Poll Tax" too, as that GAO Report itself points out.
A "Poll Tax" on that 2 to 3% percent of the Voting Public, who for various reasons cannot afford the extra expense in time and dollars being imposed on them, being imposed by officials who have probably taken a city bus in their lives ...
nor run out of paycheck, before they have run out of week.
ELECTIONS -- Issues Related to State Voter Identification Laws (pdf)
Report to Congressional Requesters
September 2014
GAO-14-634
[pg 2]
What GAO Found
[...] GAO identified 10 studies of driver’s license and state ID ownership, which showed that estimated ownership rates among all registered voters ranged from 84 to 95 percent, and that rates varied by racial and ethnic groups. For example, one study estimated that 85 percent of White registered voters and 81 percent of African-American registered voters in one state had a valid ID for voting purposes. The costs and requirements to obtain certain forms of ID, including a driver’s license, state ID, or free state ID, vary by state. GAO identified direct costs for these forms of ID in 17 states that require voters to present a photo or government-issued ID at the polls and do not allow voters to affirm their own identities, and found that driver’s license direct costs, for example, range from $14.50 to $58.50.
[...] GAO found that turnout among eligible and registered voters declined more in Kansas and Tennessee than it declined in comparison states -- by an estimated 1.9 to 2.2 percentage points more in Kansas and 2.2 to 3.2 percentage points more in Tennessee -- and the results were consistent across the different data sources and voter populations used in the analysis.
[...]
[emphasis added]
Here's what I want to know:
How come when they collect our weekly and annual Taxes, no one demands our Photo ID, before taking a slice of our pay;
But when they are bothered to have to collect and count our Votes, it's as if no amount self-identification is good enough?
-- Not even our Voter Registration IDs!
Why is that anyways?