roibu/iStockphoto/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) — The Government Accountability Office released a report on Wednesday that shows that state voter identification laws may have a negative impact on voter turnout.
The GAO says it conducted the “quasi-experimental analysis” by comparing voter turnout in Kansas and Tennessee — states with changes to their voter identification requirements between the 2008 and 2012 elections — and four comparison states that did not have any changes to their voter identification laws or other election changes that would impact turnout. Their analysis found that voter turnout among eligible and registered voters fell by 1.9 to 2.2 percent more in Kansas than in the comparison states and 2.2 to 3.2 percent more in Tennessee than in the comparison states.
Those statistics, the GAO says, were consistent across voter populations and data sources.
“To further assess the validity of the results of this analysis, GAO compared Kansas and Tennessee with different combinations of comparison states and with individual comparison states and controlled for demographic characteristics…such as age, education, race and sex,” the agency said. The results remained consistent.
The GAO also noted that in Tennessee and Kansas, larger reduction in voter turnout was found among 18- to 23-year old voters than 44- to 53-year old voters. Additionally, a greater reduction was seen in voters registered for less than one year compared to those registered for over 20 years and in African-American registrants than among any other racial population.
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