Voter Identification Laws Cost: Project Vote Takes a Look at the Costs of Voter ID Laws | Democracy, elections, and voting at Democracy Chronicles

A new blog post from Project Vote deals with the issue of the suprisingly high cost of Voter ID laws in different states.  It is quite an interesting look at the problem of creating onerous regulations. Below is an excerpt about the cost estimates of various Voter ID laws:

Those who oppose photo voter ID often say that voter ID is a solution in search of a problem. This is true, but it would more accurate to say that photo voter ID is an expensive solution in search of a virtually non-existent problem,” says Michael Slater, executive director of Project Vote. Take Pennsylvania as an example. According to news reports, there have been no instances of voter fraud in the state, but estimates show that the cost of the state’s free ID and related voter-education program to be between $5 – $11 million.

Texas and New Mexico have similar stories. According to My San Antonio, the 20 allegations of election law violations in the 2008 and 2010 elections mostly involved mail-in ballot or campaign finance violations, electioneering too close to a polling place, or a voter blocked by an election worker. There were only five illegal voting complaints, and only one remains pending, according to agency records. In fact, according to Sen. Rodney Ellis (D-Houston), “There are more UFO and Bigfoot sightings than documented cases of voter impersonation.” Yet, the cost of implementing photo voter ID in Texas could be $2 – $10 million.