Timothy Vercellotti

Voter-Identification Requirements and the Learning Curve

ebatesoverwhethertorequirevoterstopro-videproofofidentityatthepolls,andjusthowthatcanbeaccomplished,aretakingplaceinlegislative chambers and courtrooms acrossthenation.Attheheartofthesedebatesisthebalancingactofballotsecurityversusaccesstovoting.Oppo-nentsofvoter-identificationrequirementsarguethattheyplaceadisproportionateburdenonethnicandracialminorities,thepoor,thelesseducated,theveryyoung,andtheveryold.Sup-portersofidentificationrequirementsarguethestandardsarenohigherthanthoserequiredforboardingaplaneorcashinga check, and the requirements are needed to prevent voterfraud.Empiricalresearchtodatehasprovidedvaryinganswerstothequestionofwhetheridentificationrequirementsreduceturnout.Whenlookingatdataontheaggregatelevel,itappearsthatvoteridentificationhaslittleornoeffectonturnoutrates(VercellottiandAndersen2006;Alvarez,Bailey,andKatz2008).Whenexaminingturnoutontheindividuallevelhowever,dif-ferentialeffectsdoappearinthelikelihoodofvoting,thoughresearchersdisagreeonwhatthoseeffectsare.VercellottiandAndersen(2006)foundthatnon-photo-identificationrequire-ments lowered turnout among African American and His-panicvotersin2004,whileAlvarez,Bailey,andKatz(2008)foundnoevidenceofdisproportionateeffectsonnonwhitevoterswhenexaminingvoterturnoutinthe2000,2002,2004,and2006elections.Alvarez,Bailey,andKatz,however,didfindaslightnegativeeffectofidentificationrequirementsonturnoutamongvotersfromlowersocioeconomicbackgrounds.Partoftheconcernsurroundingtightervoter-identificationrequirementsisthatvoterswillbeunpreparedtoprovidethenecessaryidentificationatthepollingplace.Notallcitizenscarrytheiridentificationwiththematalltimes,andnotallcitizenshaveaccesstoalltypesofidentification.Severalstatesrequirevoterstoprovideaformofidentificationthatdisplaystheirfullnameandtheaddressatwhichtheyareregisteredinordertoverifytheiridentity.Anyoneholdingacurrentvaliddriver’slicensemeetsthisrequirement,butforthosewhodonot, compliance requires prior knowledge and preparation.Typicallythisinvolvesbringingautilitybillorsomeotherformofverification,necessitatingthatvotersareawareoftheformsofidentificationthatwillsuffice,andarethenabletoobtainadocumentmeetingthoserules.Themoststringentformofidentityverificationatthepolls—government-issuedphotoidentificationbearingthevoter’sfullnameandaddress—ispotentiallyproblematicaswell.Notallcitizenscanmeetthatstandard(Barreto,Nuno,andSanchez2008).Additionally,thedistributionofgovernment-issuedphotoidentificationisnotuniformacrosstheelectorate,leav-ingsomegroupslesslikelytopossessthem,especiallynon-whites,thelesseducated,poorresidents,andboththeyoungandelderly(Barreto,Nuno,andSanchez2007;2008).Variationinresidentialmobilityalsomakesitharderforsomegroupstoprovideacurrentphotoornon-photoidenti-fication,suchasautilitybillorbankstatement.TheMarch2000 Current Population Survey found that 16% of surveyrespondentssaidtheyhadmovedinthepreviousyear.Butthepercentagesvariedbyraceandethnicity(14%forwhiterespondents,19%forAfricanAmericans,21%forHispanics,and20%forAsiansandPacificIslanders).Mobilityalsowashigheramongyoungeragegroups(35%forthoseages20to24and32%forthoseages25to29),andamongthepoor(28%forrespondentslivingbelowthepovertylevel,comparedto14%forthoseat150%ofthepovertylevelorhigher)(Schachter2001).Acrossallformsofidentificationlaws,then,therecouldbesegmentsoftheelectorateunabletomeetthestandard.Thiswouldbetrueforanyelection,buttheeffectonturnoutmaybegreatestwhenrequirementsarenewandeventhosewhohavetherequiredidentification,orcouldobtainit,areunawareofthenewrules.Rulesthathavebeeninplaceforoneormoreelectioncyclesmayconditionvoterstobringthenecessaryidentification,raisingthepossibilitythat,atleastforsomevoters,theremaybealearningcurveregardingvoter-identificationrequirements.

The Role of Media Use in the Classroom and at Home in Improving News Consumption and Political Knowledge.

ABSTRACT Concerns regarding political knowledge and participation among young people continue to spur research into effective civic instruction. Through a quasi-experiment involving 361 students in four high schools as well as the parents of 152 of these students, we measured the effects of incorporating news magazines and discussion into social studies curricula on students’ levels of news consumption and political knowledge. We found that reading and discussing news at home and in school positively affected news consumption and political knowledge for students who were not in honors or advanced placement courses. This was also true for political knowledge when taking into account parents’ knowledge of politics. Students outside of honors and advanced classes, and whose parents had low levels of knowledge, were among those most likely to benefit from the intervention.