Urbanists may be interested in a new report about the effects of
voter id requirements on political participation. The report, co-
authored by Jennifer Darrah and myself, is available at this website:
www.s4.brown.edu/voterid.
The report pulls together findings from two more extensive studies of
immigrant naturalization and electoral participation, which I
completed over the last two years with Jennifer Darrah and Sookhee
Oh. The webpage includes links to those studies. These are under
review; please do not cite without permission.
Somewhat surprisingly, after controlling for many other individual
and collective factors, immigrants (except for non-Hispanic white
immigrants) are less likely to become naturalized citizens in states
that have voter ID requirements. Others have suggested that one
motive for naturalization is to become a participant in the political
process, but this is the first indication that a restrictive state
electoral policy is somehow factored into immigrants’ choices.
Less of a surprise is that voter ID requirements reduce voter turnout
among registered voters. Our ballpark estimate is that total voter
turnout in 2004 in the 19 states with voter ID requirements in that
year reduced white turnout by about 400,000 and black and Hispanic
turnout by about 200,000 each. There was little impact on Asian
voting, but some reduction in Asian voter registration.
Note that next week the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on a
challenge to Indiana’s voter ID law.
Best wishes to everyone for the new year,
John Logan
****************************************
John R. Logan, Professor of Sociology
Director, Spatial Structures in the Social Sciences
Department of Sociology
Brown University, Box 1916
Providence, RI 02912
http://www.s4.brown.edu
Phone: (401) 863-2267
Fax (401) 863-3213
Email John_Logan@???
