MODELING THE EFFECT OF PHOTO IDENTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS ON VOTER TURNOUT

MODELING THE EFFECT OF PHOTO IDENTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS ON VOTER TURNOUT PDF Author: Matthew S. Doyle
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Political planning
Languages : en
Pages : 90

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Book Description
Voter identification laws have become a highly contentious topic in American politics as society debates how to balance safeguarding the integrity of our elections with citizen participation. This thesis evaluates the claim made by voter identification requirement critics that increasingly stringent requirements lower voter turnout, particularly among certain demographic groups that may have a more difficult time meeting voter identification requirements. Specifically, this paper analyzes the effects that various levels of voter identification requirements may have on voter turnout, hypothesizing that more stringent voter identification requirements, such as requiring photo identification at the polls, are associated with lower voter turnout. This research uses individual level Current Population Survey (CPS) data for the 2004 through 2010 congressional and presidential elections, as well as compiled state election information. As cultural and other state level differences that may potentially impact voter turnout exist between states, such as the availability of mail-in voting, early voting, or same day registration, the analysis specifies a logistic state and year fixed-effects model of voter turnout with additional controls for individual characteristics. This study's primary finding is that photo identification requirements disproportionately impact young voters between the ages of 18 and 24, decreasing the probability that they turn out to vote.

MODELING THE EFFECT OF PHOTO IDENTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS ON VOTER TURNOUT

MODELING THE EFFECT OF PHOTO IDENTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS ON VOTER TURNOUT PDF Author: Matthew S. Doyle
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Political planning
Languages : en
Pages : 90

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Book Description
Voter identification laws have become a highly contentious topic in American politics as society debates how to balance safeguarding the integrity of our elections with citizen participation. This thesis evaluates the claim made by voter identification requirement critics that increasingly stringent requirements lower voter turnout, particularly among certain demographic groups that may have a more difficult time meeting voter identification requirements. Specifically, this paper analyzes the effects that various levels of voter identification requirements may have on voter turnout, hypothesizing that more stringent voter identification requirements, such as requiring photo identification at the polls, are associated with lower voter turnout. This research uses individual level Current Population Survey (CPS) data for the 2004 through 2010 congressional and presidential elections, as well as compiled state election information. As cultural and other state level differences that may potentially impact voter turnout exist between states, such as the availability of mail-in voting, early voting, or same day registration, the analysis specifies a logistic state and year fixed-effects model of voter turnout with additional controls for individual characteristics. This study's primary finding is that photo identification requirements disproportionately impact young voters between the ages of 18 and 24, decreasing the probability that they turn out to vote.

Voter ID Laws and Gendered Impacts on Voter Turnout

Voter ID Laws and Gendered Impacts on Voter Turnout PDF Author: Jacqueline D. Franolich
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Election law
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
"Since well before the U.S. presidential election of 2020, voter identification laws have been a topic of discussion amongst politicians, voters, the news media, and scholars. Many have questioned the focus and true reason for their creation, their implementation, their effects and potential unintended consequences. Specifically, many have argued that voter identification laws pose too great a barrier to potential voters to be worth the benefits gained in election security. Since the election of 2020, those discussions seemed to magnify. For example, in a May 2021 speech, President Biden repeated similar assertions made in the past by scholars and activists (Amwine and Smeal 2013), but in a much higher-profile fashion. Currently, thirty-five of the fifty U.S. states have voter identification laws, and it is the changes to some of these laws that have received criticism. States like Georgia and Texas have taken steps to further revise their voter identification laws which have resulted in the filing of numerous lawsuits. The recent developments and changes to current voter identification laws have led to a new unanswered question: do these laws adversely affect the turnout of women voters more than men? According to the US Census Bureau, we know that women turn out to vote at higher levels than men. But does the turnout gender gap decrease when voter identification laws are implemented and increase in level of strictness? If so, this could suggest that voter identification laws do adversely affect turnout of women more than men. This is the research question I aim to answer here. To answer my hypothesis, I created a dataset using voter turnout data from the U.S. Census Bureau for presidential election years 2000-2020. I then created an index to measure the strictness levels of voter identification laws in all 50 states. I also created a competitiveness scale to measure the competitiveness of the presidential and senate races for the same election years and collected numerous control variables thought to affect voter turnout. After collecting that data and applying advanced statistical techniques and multivariate regression models using both random and fixed effects, I found that the evidence was largely null and suggestive at best that voter identification laws do adversely affect turnout of women more than men. The descriptive models initially revealed indicative evidence to support the theory; however, after running the advanced regression models that initial evidence did not replicate, as they revealed no statistically significant differences in the turnout gender gap as the voter ID index increased."--Boise State University ScholarWorks.

The Politics of Voter Fraud

The Politics of Voter Fraud PDF Author: Lorraine Minnite
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781984331021
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 44

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Book Description
- Voter fraud is the "intentional corruption of the electoral process by the voter." This definition covers knowingly and willingly giving false information to establish voter eligibility, and knowingly and willingly voting illegally or participating in a conspiracy to encourage illegal voting by others. All other forms of corruption of the electoral process and corruption committed by elected or election officials, candidates, party organizations, advocacy groups or campaign workers fall under the wider definition of election fraud. - Voter fraud is extremely rare. At the federal level, records show that only 24 people were convicted of or pleaded guilty to illegal voting between 2002 and 2005, an average of eight people a year. The available state-level evidence of voter fraud, culled from interviews, reviews of newspaper coverage and court proceedings, while not definitive, is also negligible. - The lack of evidence of voter fraud is not because of a failure to codify it. It is not as if the states have failed to detail the ways voters could corrupt elections. There are hundreds of examples drawn from state election codes and constitutions that illustrate the precision with which the states have criminalized voter and election fraud. If we use the same standards for judging voter fraud crime rates as we do for other crimes, we must conclude that the lack of evidence of arrests, indictments or convictions for any of the practices defined as voter fraud means very little fraud is being committed. - Most voter fraud allegations turn out to be something other than fraud. A review of news stories over a recent two year period found that reports of voter fraud were most often limited to local races and individual acts and fell into three categories: unsubstantiated or false claims by the loser of a close race, mischief and administrative or voter error. - The more complex are the rules regulating voter registration and voting, the more likely voter mistakes, clerical errors, and the like will be wrongly identified as "fraud." Voters play a limited role in the electoral process. Where they interact with the process they confront an array of rules that can trip them up. In addition, one consequence of expanding voting opportunities, i.e. permissive absentee voting systems, is a corresponding increase in opportunities for casting unintentionally illegal ballots if administrative tracking and auditing systems are flawed. - There is a long history in America of elites using voter fraud allegations to restrict and shape the electorate. In the late nineteenth century when newly freed black Americans were swept into electoral politics, and where blacks were the majority of the electorate, it was the Democrats who were threatened by a loss of power, and it was the Democratic party that erected new rules said to be necessary to respond to alleged fraud by black voters. Today, the success of voter registration drives among minorities and low income people in recent years threatens to expand the base of the Democratic party and tip the balance of power away from the Republicans. Consequently, the use of baseless voter fraud allegations for partisan advantage has become the exclusive domain of Republican party activists

Building Inclusive Elections

Building Inclusive Elections PDF Author: Toby S. James
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000082695
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 255

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Book Description
Elections around the world are plagued with the problem of unequal levels of participation. This can have profound consequences for election results, representation and policies. This book focuses on the interventions that can be used to redress the turnout gap and other inequalities within the electoral process. The book defines the concept of inclusive voting practices to refer to policy instruments which can reduce turnout inequality between groups and mitigate other inequalities within the electoral process. Studies from around the world then examine how policies can affect inclusivity on election day. This includes research on enfranchising felons and migrant communities; compulsory voting; voter ID requirements; voter registration practices; investment in electoral management; gendered electoral violence; accessible voting practices; and overseas voting. As a result, this book will be of interest to scholars of democracy, democratic theory and elections, as well as having major policy implications worldwide. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the journal Policy Studies.

American Government 3e

American Government 3e PDF Author: Glen Krutz
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781738998470
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Black & white print. American Government 3e aligns with the topics and objectives of many government courses. Faculty involved in the project have endeavored to make government workings, issues, debates, and impacts meaningful and memorable to students while maintaining the conceptual coverage and rigor inherent in the subject. With this objective in mind, the content of this textbook has been developed and arranged to provide a logical progression from the fundamental principles of institutional design at the founding, to avenues of political participation, to thorough coverage of the political structures that constitute American government. The book builds upon what students have already learned and emphasizes connections between topics as well as between theory and applications. The goal of each section is to enable students not just to recognize concepts, but to work with them in ways that will be useful in later courses, future careers, and as engaged citizens. In order to help students understand the ways that government, society, and individuals interconnect, the revision includes more examples and details regarding the lived experiences of diverse groups and communities within the United States. The authors and reviewers sought to strike a balance between confronting the negative and harmful elements of American government, history, and current events, while demonstrating progress in overcoming them. In doing so, the approach seeks to provide instructors with ample opportunities to open discussions, extend and update concepts, and drive deeper engagement.

Strict Photo ID, Voter Turnout, and Race

Strict Photo ID, Voter Turnout, and Race PDF Author: Thomas La Voy
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Elections
Languages : en
Pages : 68

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Book Description
Everett Dirksen, the senator who introduced the Voting Rights Act, once said: "the right of a free citizen to vote is somehow a battle that is never quite fully won in any time or generation." So far, he seems to have been right. In recent years, a push across many states to enact stricter voter identification laws has received widespread attention. This issue and its ramifications are often discussed in the media, but without much empirical evidence. In 2007, Alvarez, Bailey and Katz assembled a working paper titled "The Effect of Voter Identification Laws on Turnout," which was recently referenced in the federal case between Texas and the Justice Department over whether the state's new voter ID law was in violation of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. This paper, the only piece of social science evidence the Judges gave significant consideration to in the Texas case, is the basis for mine. I use a similar methodology, but update my data to include survey results from the 2008 and 2010 elections, and focus only on strict photo ID laws rather than every category of voter identification. The results are astounding: a state enacting a strict photo ID voting requirement is associated with a white citizen being 7% less likely to vote, and a Hispanic citizen being 27% less likely to vote. I believe this disparate effect across both ethnicity and language group shows that strict photo ID laws are in effect in violation of the Voting Rights Act.

Who Votes Now?

Who Votes Now? PDF Author: Jan E. Leighley
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400848628
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 231

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Book Description
Who Votes Now? compares the demographic characteristics and political views of voters and nonvoters in American presidential elections since 1972 and examines how electoral reforms and the choices offered by candidates influence voter turnout. Drawing on a wealth of data from the U.S. Census Bureau's Current Population Survey and the American National Election Studies, Jan Leighley and Jonathan Nagler demonstrate that the rich have consistently voted more than the poor for the past four decades, and that voters are substantially more conservative in their economic views than nonvoters. They find that women are now more likely to vote than men, that the gap in voting rates between blacks and whites has largely disappeared, and that older Americans continue to vote more than younger Americans. Leighley and Nagler also show how electoral reforms such as Election Day voter registration and absentee voting have boosted voter turnout, and how turnout would also rise if parties offered more distinct choices. Providing the most systematic analysis available of modern voter turnout, Who Votes Now? reveals that persistent class bias in turnout has enduring political consequences, and that it really does matter who votes and who doesn't.

Voter Identification Laws and Turnout in the United States

Voter Identification Laws and Turnout in the United States PDF Author: Benjamin Highton
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
This article analyzes voter identification laws in the United States and their effects on voter turnout. Theoretically, there are plausible reasons to hypothesize turnout lowering effects, though there are also reasons to hypothesize those effects might be minimal. Methodologically, there are research design hurdles to clear in order to produce effect estimates that may be attributed to voter identification laws. Empirically, a small number of studies have employed suitable research designs and generally find modest, if any, turnout effects of voter identification laws. This may indicate that voter identification laws have only minor effects on turnout, or it may be due to the fact that the type of voter identification law that may have the most significant effects--a strict photo identification law--is a relatively recent phenomenon. Future elections and the related additional data may make it possible to adjudicate among these possibilities.

Growing into Voting

Growing into Voting PDF Author: Richard Öhrvall
Publisher: Linköping University Electronic Press
ISBN: 9176852164
Category :
Languages : sv
Pages : 53

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Book Description
This thesis contains an introduction and four essays that together address the issues of turnout and habitual voting. Although voting is less unequal than other forms of political participation, it is still biased in favour of more socially affluent citizens. One way to achieve more equal participation is to increase the general turnout. This is the implication of the `law of dispersion', formulated by Tingsten in 1937, which states that as turnout increases, participatory equality also increases. In Essay I, co-written with Mikael Persson and Maria Solevid, we revisit Tingsten's law and find new empirical support for it. One possible path to improving general turnout is the formation of voting habits. It is argued by some scholars that voting is a habit formed early on in life, when young people encounter their first elections after coming of age. It is, however, still a matter of debate as to whether voting is an act of habit. Three of the four essays in this thesis tackle this question in various ways. In Essay II, I study voting among young people who encounter their first election in different social contexts depending on their age, and how these differing contexts affect their propensity to vote in their first and second election. In Essay III, I examine whether experiencing a European Parliament election with a low turnout as a first election affects the likelihood of casting a vote in a subsequent national parliamentary election. In Essay IV, co-written with Sven Oskarsson, we study student mock elections, which constitute the first, albeit hypothetical, election experience for many young people. The main result is that the first election a young person faces is not as important as has been claimed in previous research. Regardless of whether the initial experience takes place in a context that encourages turnout or the first election encountered is a low-stimulus election that fails to draw crowds to the polls, there is no substantial impact on turnout in subsequent elections. One implication of this finding is that lowering the voting age is not likely to increase voting rates, not even in the longer term. Den här avhandlingen innefattar ett introduktionskapitel och fyra artiklar som tillsammans behandlar valdeltagande och röstning som en vana. Även om röstning i allmänna val är den mest jämlika formen av politiskt deltagande finns ändå tydliga skillnader i deltagande mellan befolkningsgrupper med olika socioekonomisk bakgrund. Ett sätt att nå ett mer jämlikt deltagande är genom ett högre valdeltagande. Det är innebörden av det lagbundna samband som Tingsten fann år 1937 och som förutsäger att skillnaden i deltagande mellan olika grupper är mindre ju högre valdeltagandet är. I avhandlingens första artikel, samförfattad med Mikael Persson och Maria Solevid, undersöker vi om detta samband fortfarande har empiriskt stöd och finner att så är fallet. En tänkbar väg till ett högre valdeltagande går via ett främjande av vanemässig röstning. En del forskare hävdar nämligen att röstning är en vana och att den vanan formas redan i de första val där en ung person har möjlighet rösta. Huruvida röstning är en vana är dock omdebatterat. Tre av avhandlingens artiklar tar på olika sätt upp den frågan. I avhandlingens andra artikel studerar jag unga personer som beroende på när de är födda får rösta för första gången vid olika åldrar och därmed i skilda social kontexter. Frågan jag ställer är hur dessa skillnader påverkar deras benägenhet att rösta i det valet och i det därpå följande. Vissa unga personer får rösta för första gången efter att ha nått rösträttsåldern i ett Europaparlamentsval där valdeltagandet är lågt. I den tredje artikeln undersöker jag ifall den erfarenheten har någon inverkan på deltagandet i ett därpå följande riksdagsval. I den fjärde artikeln, samförfattad med Sven Oskarsson, studerar vi om de skolval som arrangeras i många skolor har någon inverkan på studenters senare deltagande i riktiga val. Avhandlingens huvudresultat är att deltagande i det första valet en ung person får rösta i saknar den betydelse för framtida valdeltagande som hävdats i tidigare forskning. Oavsett om det första valet äger rum i en kontext som främjar röstning eller om det är ett val som väcker lite intresse, får det ingen substantiell effekt på benägenheten att rösta i följande val. En implikation av detta resultat är att en sänkt rösträttsålder troligen inte skulle ge ett högre valdeltagande, inte ens på längre sikt.

Are State Identification Laws Suppressing Voter Turnout?

Are State Identification Laws Suppressing Voter Turnout? PDF Author: Zachary Peter Rowe
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 50

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Book Description
This thesis analyzes the impact of identification regulations on aggregate voter turnout. It examines the presidential election cycles of 2000, 2004 and 2008 using a muItivariable regression analysis. While the raw results are statistically insignificant with regard to the impact of identification regulations affect on total voter participation, further analysis suggests a possible negative correlation. Additionally the research finds interesting disparities between the modeling of Republican and Democratic vote totals, primarily in that the explanatory power of the model is far greater for Republican vote totals.