Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Faculty & Research
  • Faculty
  • Research
  • Featured Topics
  • Academic Units
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Faculty & Research→
Publications
Publications
  • November 2021
  • Article
  • Quarterly Journal of Economics

Strict ID Laws Don't Stop Voters: Evidence from a U.S. Nationwide Panel, 2008–2018

By: Enrico Cantoni and Vincent Pons
  • Format:Print
ShareBar

Abstract

U.S. states increasingly require identification to vote—an ostensive attempt to deter fraud that prompts complaints of selective disenfranchisement. Using a difference-in-differences design on a 1.6-billion-observations panel dataset, 2008–2018, we find that the laws have no negative effect on registration or turnout, overall or for any group defined by race, gender, age, or party affiliation. These results hold through a large number of specifications and cannot be attributed to voters’ reaction against the laws or measured by campaign contributions and self-reported political engagement. However, the likelihood that non-white voters were contacted by a campaign increases by 5.4 percentage points, suggesting that parties’ mobilization might have offset modest effects of the laws on the participation of ethnic minorities. Finally, strict ID requirements have no effect on fraud—actual or perceived. Overall, our findings suggest that efforts to improve elections may be better directed at other reforms.

Keywords

Voter ID Laws; Voter Turnout; Voting; Political Elections; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; United States

Citation

Cantoni, Enrico, and Vincent Pons. "Strict ID Laws Don't Stop Voters: Evidence from a U.S. Nationwide Panel, 2008–2018." Quarterly Journal of Economics 136, no. 4 (November 2021): 2615–2660.
  • Find it at Harvard
  • Read Now

About The Author

Vincent Pons

Business, Government and the International Economy
→More Publications

More from the Authors

    • December 2022
    • Faculty Research

    Spanish Labor Law: Lifting all Boats or Leveling Down?

    By: Vincent Pons
    • November 2022
    • Faculty Research

    Walmart Chile After the Unrest: Doubling Down or Pulling Out?

    By: Vincent Pons, William Mullins and Ruth Costas
    • 2022
    • Faculty Research

    Small Campaign Donors

    By: Laurent Bouton, Julia Cagé, Edgard Dewitte and Vincent Pons
More from the Authors
  • Spanish Labor Law: Lifting all Boats or Leveling Down? By: Vincent Pons
  • Walmart Chile After the Unrest: Doubling Down or Pulling Out? By: Vincent Pons, William Mullins and Ruth Costas
  • Small Campaign Donors By: Laurent Bouton, Julia Cagé, Edgard Dewitte and Vincent Pons
ǁ
Campus Map
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Accessibility
  • Digital Accessibility
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College