Voter identification laws in the United States

Voter ID laws in the United States are laws that require a person to provide some form of official identification before they are permitted to register to vote, receive a ballot for an election, or to actually vote in elections in the United States.

At the federal level, the Help America Vote Act of 2002 requires a voter ID for all new voters in federal elections who registered by mail and who did not provide a driver's license number or the last four digits of a Social Security number that was matched against government records. Though state laws requiring some sort of identification at voting polls go back to 1950, no state required a voter to produce a government-issued photo ID as a condition for voting before the 2006 elections. Indiana became the first state to enact a strict photo ID law, which was struck down by two lower courts before being upheld in Crawford v. Marion County Election Board by the U.S. Supreme Court. As of 2021, 36 states have enacted some form of voter ID requirement.

Voter ID requirements are generally popular among Americans, with polls showing broad support across demographic groups, though they are also a divisive issue. Proponents of voter ID laws argue that they reduce electoral fraud and increase voter confidence while placing only little burden on voters. Opponents point to the lack of evidence of meaningful fraud and studies that failed to find voter ID laws increasing voter confidence or decreasing fraud. They further argue that the laws, pushed mainly by Republicans, are partisan and designed to make voting harder for demographic groups who tend to vote for Democrats, such as low-income people, people of color, younger voters and transgender people.

While research has shown mixed results, studies have generally found that voter ID laws have little if any impact on voter turnout or election outcomes. Voter ID laws are more likely to impact people of color. Research has also shown that Republican legislators in swing states, states with rapidly diversifying populations, and districts with sizable black, Latino, or immigrant populations have pushed the hardest for voter ID laws. Lawsuits have been filed against many voter ID requirements on the basis that they are discriminatory with an intent to reduce voting, with parts of voter ID laws in several states have been overturned by courts. A 2019 study and a 2021 study found voter ID laws have a negligible impact on voter fraud, which is extremely rare.