According to Chris Kromm at Facing South, the poll (sponsored by the N.C. League of Women Voters and Democracy North Carolina) found that support for ID laws drops when voters learn about the negative impact on seniors, African-Americans, and other voters who typically lack ID.
Kromm notes that the survey asked “something most surveys don’t: whether voters would also support non-photo ID alternatives.” The survey found that while 75 percent favor a photo ID requirement to vote, 70 percent said they “would not turn away a registered voter who doesn’t have one…”
So why pass strict photo ID laws if they make voting more difficult for certain groups? Firstly, 40 percent of surveyed voters still believe that voter impersonation fraud is commonplace, despite little evidence to support this belief, Kromm writes. He adds that Republican House Speaker Thom Tillis, a voter ID supporter, admitted that fraud is not so much a problem as it is a “potential risk” that concerns voters.
The poll, however, also indicates that voters aren’t as paranoid about the election system as politicians like Tillis think: an overwhelming majority of these voters also agree that substantial evidence of a voter impersonation problem should be provided by legislators “before they pass laws that make voting more difficult.”
That shouldn’t be too much to ask.
Photo by jeffreylcohen via Creative Commons