Did you know? The Patriot Post is funded 100% by its readers. Help us stay front and center in the fight for Liberty and support the 2024 Year-End Campaign.

February 15, 2019

No, Voter ID Laws Do Not Suppress Voting

Yet another study concludes that the leftist/media narrative has it all wrong.

Need to cash a check, board an airplane, or pick up a few beers for the weekend? Better bring along your ID. Need to vote in a presidential election? No worries. Heck, you can just pretend to be someone else. Even a dead person.

The good news is that more states are starting to jump on board with voter ID laws, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. But currently only seven states require a photo ID. Three states require identification without a photo. Another 25 states “request” an ID, but allow voters to cast a provisional ballot if they can’t provide one.

In other words, there’s inconsistency across the board when it comes to verifying the identity of voters. If nothing else, these new laws will make it easier to see just how pervasive the problem is.

It’s no wonder the Left opposes commonsense voter ID. After all, the cheaters (as we saw in Florida’s Broward County last November) tend to be Democrats. Accordingly, the Left continues to peddle the false notion that the laws are nothing more than a way for Republicans to keep minorities from voting. Unfortunately, the mainstream media has pushed this false narrative and convinced many Americans that voter ID laws are inherently racist.

A new study, however, is bad news for these false prophets.

Professors Vincent Pons of Harvard Business School and Enrico Cantoni of the economics department at Italy’s University of Bologna conducted a study issued by the National Bureau of Economic Research. They concluded, “Strict ID laws have no significant negative effect on registration or turnout, overall or for any subgroup defined by age, gender, race, or party affiliation.”

In fact, areas with voter ID in place may actually see more so-called disadvantaged groups on Election Day. According to The Washington Free Beacon, the study also concluded, “Paradoxically … voter ID laws might goose turnout among certain marginalized groups. This, the authors argue, is because a perceived ‘attack’ on a right (e.g., the right to vote) can mobilize voters who would otherwise fail to turn out.”

Pons and Cantoni are not alone in their findings.

The Daily Signal reports, “Various studies in recent years done by professors at the University of Missouri, the University of Delaware, [and] the University of Nebraska surveying elections from 2000 through 2016 found similar results that voter ID laws do not suppress voter turnout.”

While it’s pretty clear that voter ID laws don’t keep anyone from voting, there is inconclusive evidence as to whether such laws combat voter fraud. One of the problems is that we haven’t had a sustained effort to uncover the causes of fraud at the ballot box — a task made even harder by those states that fail to require any form of ID on Election Day in the first place.

Of course, it doesn’t take millions of fraudulent votes to tilt an election — especially in a country whose political loyalties are so evenly split. A few illegals here, a few felons there, and a handful of dead people in that other place can make all the difference. Fortunately, organizations such as The Heritage Foundation are working to show Americans that voter fraud is real.

But Democrats are committed to keeping the scales tipped in their favor. They’re aggressively campaigning against the Electoral College itself and pushing for support of both the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact and the grossly misnamed For the People Act. All of these measures are designed to overturn our long-established electoral system and open up the floodgates for widespread fraud.

Leftists are always clamoring that we “count every vote.” How telling it is that they’re also doing everything they can to keep the rest of us from ensuring the integrity of our elections.

Who We Are

The Patriot Post is a highly acclaimed weekday digest of news analysis, policy and opinion written from the heartland — as opposed to the MSM’s ubiquitous Beltway echo chambers — for grassroots leaders nationwide. More

What We Offer

On the Web

We provide solid conservative perspective on the most important issues, including analysis, opinion columns, headline summaries, memes, cartoons and much more.

Via Email

Choose our full-length Digest or our quick-reading Snapshot for a summary of important news. We also offer Cartoons & Memes on Monday and Alexander’s column on Wednesday.

Our Mission

The Patriot Post is steadfast in our mission to extend the endowment of Liberty to the next generation by advocating for individual rights and responsibilities, supporting the restoration of constitutional limits on government and the judiciary, and promoting free enterprise, national defense and traditional American values. We are a rock-solid conservative touchstone for the expanding ranks of grassroots Americans Patriots from all walks of life. Our mission and operation budgets are not financed by any political or special interest groups, and to protect our editorial integrity, we accept no advertising. We are sustained solely by you. Please support The Patriot Fund today!


The Patriot Post and Patriot Foundation Trust, in keeping with our Military Mission of Service to our uniformed service members and veterans, are proud to support and promote the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, both the Honoring the Sacrifice and Warrior Freedom Service Dogs aiding wounded veterans, the Tunnel to Towers Foundation, the National Veterans Entrepreneurship Program, the Folds of Honor outreach, and Officer Christian Fellowship, the Air University Foundation, and Naval War College Foundation, and the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation. "Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one's life for his friends." (John 15:13)

★ PUBLIUS ★

“Our cause is noble; it is the cause of mankind!” —George Washington

Please join us in prayer for our nation — that righteous leaders would rise and prevail and we would be united as Americans. Pray also for the protection of our Military Patriots, Veterans, First Responders, and their families. Please lift up your Patriot team and our mission to support and defend our Republic's Founding Principle of Liberty, that the fires of freedom would be ignited in the hearts and minds of our countrymen.

The Patriot Post is protected speech, as enumerated in the First Amendment and enforced by the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, in accordance with the endowed and unalienable Rights of All Mankind.

Copyright © 2024 The Patriot Post. All Rights Reserved.

The Patriot Post does not support Internet Explorer. We recommend installing the latest version of Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, or Google Chrome.