Who benefits from strict voter ID laws?
Now, let us look into if voter ID laws benefit one party over another, or if both parties are similarly affected by low turnout numbers. First, we will examine which groups are most affected by voter ID laws, and which are least in their efforts to vote. This will give us a sense of who these laws silence.
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In order to do this, we can look into what groups lack proper ID needed to vote. We touched on this before, but now we will go in depth. Two major groups standout above the rest. Essentially, it is poor people and racial minorities who have the least access to ID. A study was conducted looking at Indiana voters and the results were broken down by race, and class.
This data gives us characteristics of the potential voters who will likely not make it to the polls come election day. As you can see, the groups most affected by ID laws are black voters, young voters, poor voters and uneducated voters. Voter ID laws do not affect each group in society equally, which is why they are dangerous to our democracy. Take a look at the groups that vote the most in America from data on the 2016 election. This will give us a better sense of who, in society, is electing our leaders. Keep in mind, the African American voting totals were higher than average in 2008 and 2012 as Barack Obama was a candidate.
Voter turnout broken down by age shows how older people, who are more likely to have a government-issued ID, are much more likely to vote.
As you can see, baby boomers and the greatest generation both crush the younger generations when it comes to turnout. How should we feel that the oldest members of our country are having some of the biggest say in what our collective future will look like?
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Finally, here is a breakdown in turnout by income level. I could only find good data from the 2008 election but it is unlikely the demographics have changed since.
Combining all the data, the most likely voter in America is an old, rich, white person. While the least likely voter in America is a young, poor, minority. If that sounds like a sweeping generalization, it is, but it is also what the numbers show to be true. Over the course of the previous sections, we have discussed how voter ID laws keep people at home on election day. ID laws make voting more expensive, more time consuming, and clearly that affects some groups more than others. Let us now examine how the most, and least affected groups by voter ID laws vote to tell us which party benefits from this system.
The study looking into voting in the state of Indiana I mentioned earlier broke down ID rates by political party. As you can see, the Republicans have higher rates of ID's which automatically gives them an edge when a state requires ID to vote.
This chart shows that across the board, Democrats are more affected by voter ID laws. The data only gets more decisive when we break down 2016 election results by race from the Edison Exit Polls. Keep in mind that while the chart above shows on average Democrats are more affected by this, some groups that vote democrat are more dramatically plagued by voter ID. This is important because different subsets of people in each political party vote differently. Take a look at results in 2016 by race, and I will explain the tremendous benefit Republicans are experiencing thanks to voter ID.
From our research, we know that African Americans are the most affected by voter ID laws due to the fact that they are the group in America with the highest percentage of citizens without government-issued ID. They are also the highest voting Democrat group in America. By implementing laws that require ID at the polls and lead to lower African American turnout, Democrats are hemorrhaging votes, while Republicans are relatively unaffected.
Now let's look at how the other main group affected by voter ID, the poor, vote.
Again, another main victim of voter ID laws votes decidedly Democrat. While Republicans could gain votes by making it easier for poor people to vote, Democrats would stand to gain more votes, so there is no incentive.
Finally, one more chart that displays how republicans benefit from voter ID based on voters age.
Young people vote democrat, which is not a shock, but again shows how Republicans benefit from required photo ID. This page has been inarguably visual heavy, but I now need to show you again, definitively, the three groups affected most by the voter ID requirement.
Minorities
Young People
Poor People
That is who is affected, the poor, the young, and minorities. It is definitive, and the one thing they have in common is they all vote democrat.
Here is the problem, when we here about ID requirements to vote, we don't think much about it. Most American's use their ID every day, whether they are buying a beer, or just driving their car. So for many, having to use an ID to vote just seems like one more thing, on top of many, that they have to use their ID for. It is not a big deal to most Americans, but it is a barrier to voting that does not affect each group the same. This disproportionate effect, when we take into account how the affected groups vote, displays how republicans gain a tremendous advantage in our elections. All of our elections.
I will admit that I have put most of my focus on the 2016 presidential election when discussing this topic, but the voter suppression ID laws create affects every election. It is not just about who gets to elect the president; it is also about who decides elections for Congress, local officials, and who passes laws.
We can't stand by silently while Republicans work to only let the voters who will elect them vote. We need to encourage all to vote and make it easy for all to vote. This way, when the tallies are counted in any election, the results will represent all Americans. Not just the groups who aren't hurt by our current system.
From my research, it is clear, blatantly clear that any state that implements voter ID laws is doing so to benefit Republicans. From section 2, we saw how voter ID laws became more common as Republicans gained power in state legislatures. In section 3, we saw that voter fraud is unquestionably not an issue in America today. It just doesn't happen. But what does happen, in the same unquestionable way, is that fewer voters cast ballots because of voter ID laws. And these voters that are staying home overwhelming vote Democrat. Republicans stand to gain, they know it, and some of them aren't afraid to brazenly outright admit it.
Watch and see for yourself how these Republicans brag about the effectiveness of Voter ID laws in aiding Republican victory on election day.