[JURIST] States that have toughened voter identification laws have experienced steeper drops in election turnout than those that have not, including disproportionate falloffs among black and younger voters, according to a nonpartisan congressional study [text, PDF] released on Wednesday by the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) [official website]. By June of this year, 33 states had enacted voter photo ID laws to reduce fraud. The GAO report compared election turnout in Kansas and Tennessee, two states which strengthened voter ID requirements between the 2008 and 2012 elections, to voting in Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware and Maine, which did not change their ID requirements. The report concluded that reductions in voter turnout were about two percent greater in Kansas, and from two to three percent greater in Tennessee than they were in the four other states examined. According to the report, “GAO’s analysis suggests that the turnout decreases in Kansas and Tennessee beyond decreases in the comparison states were attributable to changes in those two states’ voter ID requirements.” The report said that reduced voter turnout in Kansas and Tennessee was sharper among people aged 18 to 23 than among those aged 44 to 53 and that the drop was also more pronounced among black voters than white, Hispanic or Asian voters. The GAO also determined that, in at least one state, an estimated 85 percent of white registered voters and 81 percent of African-American registered voters had a valid ID for voting purposes. The study found that the costs to obtain certain forms of photo IDs vary by state and range from $14.50 to $58.50.

State voter ID laws [JURIST background] have been highly contested in dozens of US states in recent years. Rights groups argue that voter ID legislation is an attempt by conservatives to preserve their political power through voter suppression of minorities. Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Tennessee, North Carolina and Virginia are just a few of the states currently embroiled [JURIST news archive] in litigation with state residents and civil rights advocacy groups over their voter ID legislation. Earlier this week a Texas judge filed a lawsuit [JURIST report] challenging the state’s voter ID law, claiming that it violates the Texas Constitution. Also this week the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit ruled [JURIST report] that the Wisconsin voter ID law is constitutional. Earlier this month those challenging Wisconsin’s voter photo identification law asked [JURIST report] the US Supreme Court to take emergency action and block the law before the November 4 election. The Tennessee Supreme Court last October rejected a movement to overturn that state’s voter ID law, unanimously upholding its constitutionality.