Understanding the Adoption of Voter Identification Laws in the American States

“As states grow more racially diverse due to immigration and internal migration, 15 some voters might demand restrictions on democracy to block the political inclusion and empowerment of new voters of color (Abrajano and Hajnal 2017; Biggers and Hanmer 2017; Myers and Levy 2018).”

“Most have been sponsored by Republican legislators and passed by states with Republican governors (Biggers & Hanmer, 2011).”

“…electoral calculations matter: research shows that restrictive voting laws are most likely when control of government has recently shifted to the Republican Party, indicating that these states were competitive in the recent past (Biggers and Hanmer 2017; McKee 2015; Rocha and Matsubayashi 2014).”

“Despite claims to electoral integrity, scholars demonstrate that partisan motivations enhance the popularity of these laws (Bentele & O’brien, 2013; Biggers & Hanmer, 2017; Hicks, McKee, Sellers, & Smith, 2015).”

“…intentionally target minorities in crafting the list of acceptable IDs or when deciding to introduce voter ID laws at all (Bentele and O’Brien 2013; Biggers and Hanmer 2017; Hicks et al. 2015; Highton 2017; Rocha andMatsubayashi 2014).2 Minority voters might interpret these conditions as a signal…”

“…popular with the public (Stewart et al 2016, Gronke et al 2015, Atkeson et al 2014). larger minority populations and greater partisan competition (Biggers and Hanmer 2017; Bentele and O’Brien 2013, Hicks et al 2015, McKee 2015, but see Rocha and Matsubayashi 2014).11 All of this evidence points…”

“Studies have shown that voter suppression, such as restrictive voter identification laws, target Democrats and have been implemented in states with Republican legislative majorities and Republican governors (Biggers and Hanmer 2017). Voter suppression, especially a stringent voter identification law causes disenfranch…”

“Along these lines, since 2004 Republican-controlled states have enacted a variety of “anti-voter fraud” measures that disproportionately burden poor, minority, and Democratic voters (Biggers and Hanmer 2017).”

“…in their responses, then we would expect them to be more likely to bring up ID requirements or felon disqualification laws when responding to a Black constituent, because these issues disproportionally affect Black voters (Barreto et al., 2018; Biggers & Hanmer, 2017; Cottrell et al., 2019).”

“…sometimes enunciate publicly, these initiatives are fine-tuned to reduce turnout of voters of color, young voters, and so on. thus, this is a partisan effort that exploits the political weakness of certain groups of voters assumed to vote for Democratic candidates (biggers and Hanmer 2017).”

“…20 Republican House supporting it.2 The parties remain divided on the merits of EDR and photo ID. States adopting EDR since 2010 are nearly exclusively Democratic,3 whereas Republicans have been the primary actors promoting strict photo ID laws (Bentele & O’Brien, 2013; Biggers & Hanmer, 2017).”

“Biggers and Hanmer (2017) similarly find that states with larger Black populations are more likely to adopt voter ID laws — especially when a Republican resides in the governor ’ s mansion.”

“Partisanship plays a central role in debates about election reform legislation (Bentele & O’Brien, 2013; Biggers & Hanmer, 2015, 2017; Hasen, 2013; Hicks et al., 2016a, 2016b).”

“…process, restriction of voting opportunities, and—most salient for the current study—the adoption of ID requirements for casting a ballot (Biggers & Hanmer, 2017; Nowacki et al., 2020; Shah & Smith, 2021).2 The contexts in which voter ID laws have emerged highlight the partisan divide…”

“Previous work has demonstrated that Republicans are likelier to adopt strict voter ID laws (Biggers and Hanmer, 2017) and less likely to adopt same-day voter registration when Black voters reach a certain threshold (Caron, 2022).”

“We might expect that Republican states adopt laws restricting access to the ballot while Democratic states adopt laws maximizing access to the ballots (Biggers and Hanmer 2017).”

“Most of the literature examining state legislator voting behavior on election reform has keyed in on voter identification (ID) provisions (e.g., Biggers and Hanmer 2017; Hicks et al. 2015) due to the per-vasiveness of this issue, raised and advanced by Republican lawmakers throughout the United…”

“…states passed new voter identification laws between 2011 and 2013 (Brennan Center for Justice 2013), and these laws have been passed almost exclusively with Republican votes in states where the GOP controls the legislative process (Bentele and O’Brien 2013; McKee 2015; Biggers and Hanmer 2017).”

“These partisan divisions appear to extend to the elite level as well (Bowler and Donovan, 2016), as evidenced by the passage of more rigorous ID restrictions in states where Republicans controlled the legislatures at the time of enactment (Biggers and Hanmer, 2017; Hale and McNeal, 2010).”

“…number of polling locations, cuts in voting times (Brennan Center for Justice n.d.), and voter-identification laws (Mycoff, Wagner, and Wilson 2009; Citrin, Green, and Levy 2014; Blessett 2015; Biggers and Hanmer 2017; Radomski 2017; Burden 2018). apparatus (e.g., signage and polling equipment).”

“Given that partisan-ship explains variation in other aspects of election policy (Biggers and Hanmer 2017; 2015), we evaluate differences based on the partisanship of the state CEO, who is the designated official to oversee”

“…above that previous research has emphasized the role of partisan cues and partisan self-interest in attitudes about changing election laws (e.g., Alvarez et al. 2011; Bowler and Donovan 2018; Coll et al. 2022; Biggers 2019; Biggers and Hanmer 2017; McCarthy 2019; Mann, Gronke, and Adona 2020).”

“…base voters, strategic parties will seek to use control of state government to shape voting policies in a way that helps their base voters and/or hinders their opponents’ voters from turning out (Bentele & O’Brien, 2013; Rocha & Matsubayashi, 2014; Hicks et al., 2015; Biggers & Hanmer, 2017).”

“…some state work to make voter registration automatic—while others have passed legislation to protect the integrity of elections—for example, by passing more restrictive photo identification laws (Alvarez and Grofman 2014; Biggers and Hanmer 2015; 2017; Hanmer 2009; Hicks et al. 2015; Stewart 2014).”

“…all published studies that have examined the adoption of voter IDs fi nd states where conservatives or Republicans have greater control of government are more likely to adopt these requirements (Bentele and O ’ brien 2013; Biggers and Hanmer 2017; Hicks et al. 2015; Rocha and Matsubayashi 2014).”

“Many states have passed new laws that require people to show photo identification to vote, particularly in ethnically diverse states with Republican Party control of state government (Hale andMcNeal 2010; Bentele and O’Brien 2013; Rocha and Matsubayashi 2014; Biggers and Hanmer 2017).”

“Researchers often find that as racial and ethnic diversity increases in a geographic location, so does the introduction of bills or passage of laws to curtail these groups’ rights (Biggers & Hanmer, 2017; Morris, 2023, 2024).”

“…larger numbers of non-citizens, restrictive-access legislation is more likely to be proposed” (1098) and that Republican control of the legislative process is the only predictor more strongly tied to the introduction of voter suppression measures, a finding confirmed by Biggers and Hanmer (2017).”

“Rocha and Tetsuya (2014) show that states with Republican-controlled legislatures and larger non-white populations are more likely to adopt voter ID laws (see also Bentele and O ’ Brien 2013; Biggers & Hanmer, 2017; Hale & McNeal, 2010).”

“…the Republican argument that voter fraud justifies voter ID laws (the “voter fraud frame”) and the Democratic argument that the laws are discriminatory (the “voter suppression frame”) (see for example, Biggers and Hanmer 2017; Conover and Miller 2018; Edelson et al. 2017; Gronke et al. 2019).”

“…legal acts can violate the spirit of the law if done to ensure one-party control, such as when legislatures intentionally seek to make it harder for minorities to vote through carefully crafted voter id laws or targeted closings of polling stations (Biggers and Hanmer 2017; Odujinrin 2021).”

“This also comports with evidence in the United States that uni fi ed Republican control is the most important determinant to explaining the adoption of voting restriction (Bentele & O ’ Brien, 2013; Biggers & Hanmer, 2017; Grumbach, 2021; Hicks et al., 2015).”

“At the elite level, considerable evidence suggests that the adoption of restrictive voting laws is shaped by the strategic interests of governing parties (e.g., Biggers & Hanmer, 2017).”

“And as Biggers and Hanmer (2017) note, “if Republicans were mostly concerned vote buying and intimidation.””

“First, after years in which most electoral reforms were aimed at easing voter access, voter identification laws have become increasingly prevalent in recent decades (Biggers & Hanmer, 2017).”