Voting Legislation in the 21st Century: Does Voter ID Negatively Affect Anyone?

This work analyzes whether voter identification (voter ID) legislation negatively affected turnout in 2014, when following a large wave of such legislation. More specifically, it examines if changes to stricter voter ID laws show a greater impact on the probability of someone voting than smaller changes or no changes in ID legislation. Regression analysis is run on validated voter turnout and demographic data from the 2010-2014 CCES Panel Study and 2014 American Community Survey (ACS) to determine the impacts of this legislative changes on voters. The analysis reveals the probability of a voter going to the polls is most negatively impacted in states with the greatest change toward stricter voter ID laws. The analysis also finds that certain groups of voters were less likely to vote, holding other factors at their means: Black voters, Hispanic voters, voters that moved, and voters living in more segregated (dissimilar) counties.