[EL] GAO finds voter turnout declines in two ID states

[Hess, Doug]

Sorry if this has been reported to the list before:

Issues Related to State Voter Identification Laws
GAO-14-634: Published: Sep 19, 2014. Publicly Released: Oct 8, 2014.

http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-14-634 

" GAO's analysis suggests that the turnout decreases in Kansas and Tennessee beyond decreases in the comparison states were attributable to changes in those two states' voter ID requirements. GAO found that turnout among eligible and registered voters declined more in Kansas and Tennessee than it declined in comparison states-by an estimated 1.9 to 2.2 percentage points more in Kansas and 2.2 to 3.2 percentage points more in Tennessee-and the results were consistent across the different data sources and voter populations used in the analysis. ... In comments on draft report excerpts the Kansas, Tennessee, and Arkansas Secretary of State Offices disagreed with GAO's criteria for selecting treatment and comparison states and Kansas and Tennessee questioned the reliability of one dataset used to assess turnout. GAO notes that any policy evaluation in a non-experimental setting cannot account for all unobserved factors that could potentially impact the results. However, GAO believes its methodology was robust and valid as, among other things, GAO's selection of treatment and comparison states controlled for factors that could significantly affect voter turnout, and GAO used three data sources it determined to be reliable to assess turnout effects. "

Doug

Douglas R. Hess
Assistant Professor of Political Science
Grinnell College
Carnegie Hall #302
1210 Park Street
Grinnell, Iowa 50112
Office: 641-269-4383
http://www.grinnell.edu/users/hessdoug 
OFFICE HOURS for fall 2014: Tues/Thurs 2pm to 4pm.