Do Restrictive Voter ID Laws Alter Expert Perceptions of Electoral Integrity? A Comparative Analysis

A key component of democratic legitimacy is electoral integrity. Elections are said to have integrity when the will of the people is genuinely reflected in the outcome of the election. But elections lacking integrity can show elements of fraud, malpractice and manipulation. However, the role voter Identification (ID) laws play in ensuring or limiting integrity is not well understood. We know from previous research that more restrictive voter ID laws are associated with lower election turnout. Therefore, it may be argued such laws may limit the extent to which the genuine will of the people is reflected. Yet a key argument for voter ID laws is that they prevent malpractice and fraud, in which case restrictive voter ID laws should enhance electoral integrity. This paper tests these competing claims using an original dataset of voter ID laws in 196 countries combined with the Perceptions of Electoral Integrity dataset and shows that more restrictive voter ID laws (based on photo ID) are associated with lower perceptions of electoral integrity at the national level. To test the direction of causality, analysis of a panel study of the United States shows when a more restrictive voter ID law is introduced perceptions of integrity improve. The implications of these findings are in a response to, lower levels of integrity more restrictive voter ID laws are introduced. This contradictory finding implies that restrictive voting laws may only act as a short-term solution to lower integrity and not deal with the root causes of low electoral integrity.