# Will voter ID laws backfire on GOP? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [September 11, 2012, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-voter-id-laws-backfire-on-gop/634412 "2012-09-11T17:34:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Kevbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e47774/32.png) [@Kevbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kevbo)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2012, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-voter-id-laws-backfire-on-gop/634412/1 "2012-09-11T17:34:13Z")
Prompted by Jim “Crazy Money” Cramer’s tweet: > [@](#): > > I have a problem. My dad, a vet, won’t be allowed to vote in Pa. because he does not drive, he is elderly, and can’t prove his citizenship. > > — Jim Cramer (@jimcramer) September 11, 2012 Republicans have pushed through voter ID laws in a number of states. It is widely assumed that these tend to disenfranchise poor people who can’t afford cars and don’t otherwise need ID, and often live far from the offices where such ID is issued. But Cramer’s tweet reveals another demographic that lacks ID: the elderly, which tend to be fairly reliable voters and also skew heavily republican. One side of my brain thinks “Of course the GOP did a lot of research before promoting these ID laws, right?” While the other side reminds me that Conservatives tend to go with their gut instinct, and ignore contrary data. Any chance these laws will backfire on the GOP? ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2012, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-voter-id-laws-backfire-on-gop/634412/2 "2012-09-11T17:37:42Z")
An elderly vet voting for a god fearing republican? Of course we can bend the rules for you sir! ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2012, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-voter-id-laws-backfire-on-gop/634412/3 "2012-09-11T17:51:17Z")
> [@grude](#): > > An elderly vet voting for a god fearing republican? Of course we can bend the rules for you sir! Well, I’m afraid this is exactly what will happen. After all, these laws are supposed to keep people from voting who shouldn’t be. They aren’t about white people. They are about the lazy and the illegal. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2012, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-voter-id-laws-backfire-on-gop/634412/4 "2012-09-11T18:00:14Z")
I read an article a month or two ago (I’ll try to dig it up) that made this same point, citing a study done here in Tennessee. It turns out that of the people who don’t currently have an acceptable ID for voting, the ones who live in urban areas at least have easier access to the resources to obtain ID. However, in the rural parts of the states, you have poor or elderly residents who don’t have ID and also don’t have a way to travel to the next county, or further, to get the ID they need. And polls show that those urban poor tend to vote Democratic while the rural poor are mostly Republican. Of course the whole law is stupid anyway because you can absentee vote without any ID at all. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2012, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-voter-id-laws-backfire-on-gop/634412/5 "2012-09-11T18:11:33Z")
You are being too reasonable. There is an element of the Republican Party that totally believes that the Dems have been funneling tons of illegal voters to the polls. Only way they could win in a country that is basically center-right! They _must_ be cheating! So losing a few legitimate Pubbie voters is small potatoes compared to turning back the tidal wave of illegals. The cynics of ALEC, who inspired this appalling state of affairs, don’t believe any such thing, they only believe in hassling and hindering enough Dem voters to skate by in the close ones. They are amenable to reason, they could be dissuaded from pursuing a foul and rotten adventure in bad civics if it won’t do them any good. The Tea Party base is solidly in camp the first. And if they want the attention of the leadership, who tend towards the second, they just reach into the pocket that has their balls and give them a squeeze. Where it might actually backfire is pissing off minority voters, students, etc. Hopeless apathy is pretty common amongst the people this shit is aimed at. But nothing makes someone want to do something more than being told they can’t. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2012, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-voter-id-laws-backfire-on-gop/634412/6 "2012-09-11T19:45:12Z")
Part of me hopes this is true and wants to point and laugh when it hurts the Republicans, who are already busy trying to keep their base alive until November. But then a better angel reminds me that it’s wrong either way. Voter ID requirements are kind of like assuming guilt until proven innocent. It’s backwards to how this country conducts itself. It’s driven by fear and it’s wrong. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-voter-id-laws-backfire-on-gop/634412/7 "2012-09-12T03:03:47Z")
> [@bup](#): > > already busy trying to keep their base alive until November. I will assume that you meant that the same way I took it, as in “literally alive.” ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 9:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-voter-id-laws-backfire-on-gop/634412/8 "2012-09-12T09:04:04Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > (snip)Where it might actually backfire is pissing off minority voters, students, etc. Hopeless apathy is pretty common amongst the people this shit is aimed at. But nothing makes someone want to do something more than being told they can’t. I agree with this. If voting wasn’t important, why are they trying so hard to keep you from doing it? ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-voter-id-laws-backfire-on-gop/634412/9 "2012-09-12T11:35:27Z")
Given that voters support voter ID law by an overwhelming margin, presumably Republicans would benefit politically even if more of their voters were disenfranchised than Democratic voters. ---
**Author:** ![Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/848f3c/32.png) [@Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuzzy_Dunlop)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-voter-id-laws-backfire-on-gop/634412/10 "2012-09-12T13:00:27Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Given that voters support voter ID law by an overwhelming margin, presumably Republicans would benefit politically even if more of their voters were disenfranchised than Democratic voters. That doesn’t make any sense even if the premise is true. The question is whether the voter suppression laws could unintentionally suppress more conservative voters and liberal voters as intended. Even if people are nominally in favor of laws that prevent voter fraud it doesn’t follow that anyone would change their vote because of it.