There has been much talk in the media in the run up to these elections about the use of voter ID in order to cast a ballot. Democrats have argued that requiring voters to show photographic ID will make it harder for people to vote, and will stop people voting from minority groups, or poorer backgrounds- thus weakening democracy. They have also argued that it is not necessary, that cases of voter fraud are so rare as to make it’s impact negligible. Those in favor of implementing voter ID argue that ID is required to obtain government entitlements, gain access to government buildings etc so it ought to be required when casting a vote in an election- that it strengthens democracy.

Groups like Veritas and True the Vote have been cataloguing cases of voter fraud. True the Vote report that in a recent Wisconsin recall election a bus was seen offloading people at a voting station, “Magically, all of them needed to register and vote at the same time,” Ms. Engelbrecht, of True the Vote, said. “Do you think maybe they registered falsely under false pretenses? Probably so.” She also cites a similar report from a 2010 election in San Diego. Election officials say there is no evidence to collaborate True the Vote’s claims.

The Pew Center on the States,  who provide non-partisan research, reporting and advocacy, issued a report in February finding that more than 1.8 million dead people remained on voter rolls and about 2.8 million people were registered in more than one state, while another 12 million registrations contained flawed addresses.