Jacob Dirks
Kimberly Thompson
ENGL 2201
November 20
th
, 2017
Ethics of Voter ID Laws in the United States
One of the most controversial topics in Political Science today is the issue of Voter ID
laws. These laws have been implemented in some parts of the United States with varying degrees
of success and failure. The issue surrounding these laws is mainly ethical, but also a legal issue
as one of the main arguments on the pro-voter ID side is that illegal immigrants are able to vote
without being a citizen, which leads to other issues like voter fraud. One of the main arguments
from the side that is against voter ID laws is that the laws are inherently racist and discriminate
against minorities, as well as affecting voter turnout. This issue has arguably gotten much worse
with the new administration in the United States, causing the issue to be stirred up again. If voter
ID laws were to be put in place within the United States, it would be unethical considering the
failed attempts that point towards the idea of no voter ID laws, the issue of discrimination
racially and financially, as well as voter turnout. While over 30 states within the US have
implemented voter ID laws to a certain extent, the problems that voter ID supporters claim to
have solved with this are not solved. The biggest issue surrounding the whole idea of voter ID is
voter fraud, and even before any voter ID laws were implemented, voter fraud was a rare
occurrence. When voter fraud does happen, it tends to be caused by officials interfering or
absentee ballots.
i
These types of fraud will not be prevented by the use of voter ID, rendering it
almost useless for what most politicians say it is for.
Strict voter ID laws have been badly implemented in several states and counties within
the US, with one of the main examples being Kansas. A study done by Chelsie L. M. Bright and
Michael S. Lynch dissect Kansas voter ID laws and what effects they had on the voter turnout
and many other statistics. An interesting finding in their research shows that advertising can for
voter ID’s can boost the otherwise declining voter turnout, but not to the point that it reverses the
damage. “Although the differences between advertising focusing on “Got Voter ID” and “all
votes will be counted” do indicate that voter ID decreases turnout, it appears that targeted
advertising explaining the provisional ballot processes to voters and increased efforts to make
photo IDs easy and inexpensive to obtain can mitigate the potential negative effects voter ID
laws may have on turnout”
ii
. What this means is that in most cases, voter turnout is decreased as
