Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / I address state voter identification laws and test to see if they cause lower voter turnout. My hypothesis states a significance that voter ID laws have in determining voter turnout in each state’s election. The focus is on each of the fifty states elections and examines them from 2000 through 2016. With voter ID laws being the independent variable and turnout a control variable, the study was able to determine a statistical significance between the two. There is no readily available data table for voter ID laws, the table created will advance any further research done within voter ID laws.

Thesis advisor: Shep R. Melnick / Almost half a century since the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the most fundamental right in our democracy is still the most contested one. The recent photo identification requirements across the country remind us that discrimination still exists in our elections. The partisan interests at stake over these voter suppressive laws and the ever-present reality of racial gerrymandering are further evidence of that. This thesis examines the history of voting rights litigation since 1965 and discusses the recent tension between the courts and the Department of Justice with respect to their competing interpretations of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act and their conflicting views on voter ID laws. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2013. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Political Science Honors Program. / Discipline: Political Science .