[EL] Question on voters who by-pass voter ID requirements

[Doug Hess]

In talking to some college students the other day, it occurred to me
that in addition to people who may face higher costs to voting under
Voter ID laws or who find it very hard to get the proper ID, there is
also the possibility that some classes of people will be allowed to
vote even if they do not have the right ID. I know some thought has
been given to people who are improperly asked for ID in states where
it is not required, etc., but what about the reverse?  Might voters in
smaller towns, or voters benefiting from positive regard by the
election workers be allowed to vote when they shouldn't? After all,
"look the other way" events form bias if, when aggregated, it occurs
more often for members of some groups than others.

It would seem this should be as important a line of research and
argumentation as the concern of people having a hard time voting, at
least for concerns about discrimination against a class of voters. In
other words, even if the law is not applied in a discriminatory
fashion AGAINST certain voters, is it applied in a discriminatory
fashion in FAVOR of some voters? I guess supporters of ID laws may say
that is just an implementation problem, but given that the law doesn't
address a real policy concern, it does seem one more category of cost
against the zero benefits of these laws.

Has much been done on this? I recall that there was some work done 3-4
years ago on race and identity checking in the southwest. I forget if
it looked at failures to implement the law that favored people, or
just looked at failures that harmed individuals through improper
identity checking or rejection.

I guess people who know they should not have been allowed to vote are
not likely to come forward, but certainly some election officials or
volunteers might be willing to say (perhaps sheepishly) that they have
done it by mistake or seen it happen (or are concerned that it is
happening).

Doug Hess
202-277-6400 (cell)

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