The Constitutionality of the Indiana Voter ID Law
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tional voter ID requirement in order to prevent voter fraud from changing the outcome of elections (Kelly 2009). However, the Carter-Baker Report relied mostly on anecdotal evidence to make their case for voter ID requirements. One of the instances the commission relied on was the allegation of voter fraud in Wisconsin after the 2004 Presidential Election. In that instance Republicans alleged that there was a massive fraud operation that led to John Kerry winning the state by 11,000 votes (Overton 2007). After a yearlong investigation, Republicans claimed to have uncovered nine instances of voter fraud in both Milwaukee and in Illinois. However, of the nine people identified, the Republican-appointed U.S. attorney has prosecuted none. Six of the cases were clerical errors and three of them were instances of two different individuals with the same name but different birthdates voting in Wisconsin and Illinois (Overton 2007). The Carter-Baker commission also cited evidence claiming that the voter rolls contained 4,500 more people than were listed on the U.S. Census. Still, this was due in part to the fact that the state of Wisconsin allows for same day registration, allowing individuals to show up at the polls, register, and vote the same day. The investigation found that 70,000 voters registered on Election Day, likely leading to the excess of 4,500 more voters listed on the rolls than on the census. Of these 70,000, only one hundred were questionable votes—those where persons may have used fake names or voted twice. There is evidence that these were anything other than clerical errors and out of the one hundred votes suspected of being illegitimate, only four people were ever charged, three of whom were acquitted (Overton 2007). On a state level, claims of widespread voter fraud are not supported by evidence. Indeed, election law scholar Lorrain Minnite noted that allegations of voter fraud were eventually dismissed in the 1996 California Congressional Election and the 2000 election in St. Louis. (Callahan and Minnite 2003). voter fraud on a national scale is also very rare. A report in the New York Times stated that there have only been 120 charges, resulting in 86 convictions since 2002 (Cooper and Knotts 2011). Similarly, a report issued in North Carolina reports there were 18 documented cases of double voting in North Carolina in 2008. Several scholars, including Minnite, have concluded that intentional voter fraud is extremely rare, and widespread voter fraud is a myth (Cooper and Knotts 2011). Eighty-six convictions and eighteen instances of double voting may seem like a lot but not when compared to the number of elections across the country, including the many different levels of elections (federal, state, county and local) in all 50 states. The number would likely amount to an average of less than one instance of voter fraud per election. Minnite argues that the current definition of election fraud needs to be redefined. Minnite wishes to narrow the government’s current definition of elec-