FIRST ON FOX: A study in the crucial swing state of Wisconsin runs contrary to the popular claim of many on the political left and concludes that voter ID laws have not suppressed the vote in the state.
“The study finds no statistically significant negative impact of Wisconsin’s voter ID law on overall voter turnout,” the new study from the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL) concludes.
“In fact, turnout has slightly increased since the law’s implementation, challenging claims that voter ID requirements lead to widespread disenfranchisement.”
Critics have also railed against voter ID laws in recent years, claiming that it disenfranchises minority voters who, according to critics, have difficulty obtaining identification. The study states that it found “no evidence of a negative effect on turnout from the implementation of voter ID among non-white Wisconsinites.”
The study compared turnout in Wisconsin over a 20-year period, starting with the 2004 presidential election and ending with the 2024 presidential election while including gubernatorial elections in the years between. WILL acknowledged that turnout can be “impacted by many factors beyond voter ID laws” but explained that it “included these key control variables to ensure we isolated the law’s true impact.”
Wisconsin established voter ID laws in 2011 that have undergone several court challenges in the following years.
Will Flanders, research director at WILL, told Fox News Digital that he hopes people takeaway from this study that the popular narratives about voter ID laws are not based in data.
“When people make these claims that voter I.D. is this instrument of suppression, there’s really no evidence to back that up,” Flanders said.
“People often say it’s especially hard for minorities and folks from low-income backgrounds. We specifically looked at the impact on areas with more minority voters, and we found that there’s no evidence, even in those areas, to support this case. There’s no impact on voter turnout in areas with high numbers of minority residents relative to other parts of the state as well. So no impact overall and no impact on those voters that are generally claimed to be most affected.”
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Honest Elections Project Action Executive Director Jason Snead told Fox News Digital that the WILL report is consistent with “many” other studies that show voter ID laws “do not do what the Left claims.”
“To the contrary, voter ID laws enhance public trust in elections, leading directly to higher voter turnout and greater trust in the democratic process. Liberal politicians are desperate to mislead the public, but the truth is that voter ID laws are overwhelmingly popular. That is why 36 states have them and voters in states as diverse as North Carolina and Nevada have voted for ballot measures to require voter ID.”
On April 1, voters in Wisconsin will be asked if they want to enshrine Wisconsin’s voter ID law into the state Constitution.
Polling shows that the majority of Americans support the idea of requiring identification to vote.
The latest Gallup poll on the issue showed that more than 80% of voters support showing photo identification to vote as well as providing proof of citizenship.
A 2024 Pew Research Poll also showed a bipartisan consensus that over 80% of Americans support voter ID measures.
In Wisconsin, nearly 75% of residents polled by Marquette University Law School supported voter ID.
