Food for thought:
It was supposed to be the study that proved voter ID laws are not just discriminatory but can also have a big impact on elections. And it was picked up widely, with outlets including ThinkProgress and the Washington Post reporting that the study found voter ID laws hurt Hispanic voters in particular and skewed elections to the right.
But a follow-up study suggests the findings in the original were bunk. According to researchers at Stanford, Yale, and the University of Pennsylvania, the original study was based on surveys of voters that are extremely unreliable — skewing the results. On top of that, several calculation errors led to even more problems. When the errors are corrected, the follow-up researchers found, there’s no evidence in the analyzed data that voter ID laws have a statistically significant impact on voter turnout.
In other words, it’s possible that voter ID laws still have an impact on elections, but the original study just doesn’t have the data to prove it.
The findings aren’t too surprising. Looking at the broader research, the empirical evidence has tended to find that voter ID laws have a small impact on elections. While they still may be racially discriminatory or unnecessary, ultimately voter ID laws may not have a strong enough effect on voter turnout, based on the available research so far, to swing anything but the closest election. And the newest study backs that up.
The new study suggests voter ID laws have little to no impact on minority voter turnout
The previous study, published in January by a trio of researchers at UC San Diego, Michigan State University, and Bucknell University, used 2006–2014 data from the Cooperative Congressional Election Studies (CCES) to study the effect of voter ID laws. They concluded, “The analysis shows that strict identification laws have a differentially negative impact on the turnout of racial and ethnic minorities in primaries and general elections. We also find that voter ID laws skew democracy toward those on the political right.”
Complete text:
A major study finding that voter ID laws hurt minorities isn’t standing up well under scrutiny - Vox
Of course, I realize that this study does not say what some people want it to say, so it is to be ridiculed and/or ignored without bothering to read it.
Speaking as one of the very few black people on this forum, I personally have never had any problem getting an ID, nor do I know anyone who has. I will now stand by for the inevitable white poster to lecture me on what it's like to be black.