Vote Fraud in the Eye of the Beholder: The Role of Public Opinion in the Challenge to Voter Identification Requirements
With the Supreme Court hearing a challenge to Indiana’s voter identification law in January, voter fraud issues have been the subject of significant debate both in the media and in the reform community. Courts have thus far pointed to prevalent fears of voter fraud as a justification for ID requirements, but in a new article, Stephen Ansolabehere and Nathaniel Persily determine that voters’ perceptions of fraud do not have an effect on whether or not they turn out to vote.

Read the article here.
Featured Resources
In this analysis, Election Reform Project staff summarize a range of relevant research presented at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association and highlight a number of directions that future research is likely to take.
This report, undertaken by the EAC in partnership with two consultants, reviews the existing literature on "election crimes," develops a working definition of that term, and lays out suggestions for further research on the issue.
In this paper, the authors document the effect of voter identification requirements in the 2000-2006 elections, examining both aggregate and individual-level data.
This report explores the frequency of ballot spoilage in 2000 by county and finds a disproportionately high level of spoilage in minority counties.
Research Projects
Election Law @ Moritz, run through Moritz College of Law at the Ohio State University, contains both explanation and commentary on a wealth of election reform issues from a legal perspective.
Electionline.org provides daily news updates on election reform issues, as well as deeper analysis of selected topics, including recent reports on voter registration, recount procedures, and the progress in implementing the Help America Vote Act since 2002.
The American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
www.aei.org
The Brookings Institution
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