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PAGE10A
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2014
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
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Study: Voter ID laws cut turnout of blacks, youth
ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — States that toughened their voter identification laws saw steeper drops in election turnout than those that did not, with disproportionate falloffs among black and younger voters, a nonpartisan congressional study released Wednesday concluded.
The office compared election turnout in Kansas and Tennessee — which tightened voter ID requirements between the 2008 and 2012 elections — to voting in four states that didn't change their identification requirements.
The report by the Government Accountability Office, Congress' investigative agency, was released less than a month from elections that will determine which party controls Congress.
As of June, 33 states have enacted laws obligating voters to show a photo ID at the polls, the study said. Republicans who have pushed the legislation say the requirement will reduce fraud, but Democrats insist the laws are a GOP effort to reduce Democratic turnout on Election Day.
It estimated that reductions in voter turnout were about 2 percent greater in Kansas and from 2 to 3 percent steeper
in Tennessee than they were in the other states examined. The four other states, which did not make their voter ID laws stricter, were Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, and Maine.
"GAO's analysis suggests that the turnout decreases in Kansas and Tennessee beyond decreases in the comparison states were attributable to changes in those two states' voter ID requirements," the report said.
CHUCK SCHUMER New York Senator
"This study confirms the real impact of Republican efforts to limit access to the ballot box."
The study cautioned that the results from Kansas and Tennessee don't necessarily apply to other states with stricter ID laws. It also found that of 10 other studies that mostly focused on voting before 2008, five found no significant impact from voter ID laws, four found decreases and one found an increase.
The report said that in Kansas and Tennessee, reduced voter turnout was sharper
among people aged 18 to 23 than among those from 44 to 53. The drop was also more pronounced among blacks than whites, Hispanics or Asians and was greater among newly registered voters than those registered at least 20 years.
Estimated falloff among black voters was nearly 4 percent greater than it was among whites in Kansas, and almost 2 percent larger among blacks than for whites in Tennessee, the report said.
Young people and blacks generally tend to support Democratic candidates.
A group of Democratic senators including Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Vermont independent Sen. Bernard Sanders requested the study and said Wednesday that it confirmed their arguments and reaffirmed the need to pass legislation making it harder to curb voting.
"This study confirms the real impact of Republican efforts to limit access to the ballot box. Playing politics with the right to vote is a shameful practice," said Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.
Republican officials did not immediately provide comments when they were asked for reaction by email.
BAR FROM PAGE 5A
management and Gracian graduated with a degree in engineering.
"They have stories about dodging bullets (in Sri Lanka)" Boulter said.
come to Henry's Upstairs to hold weekly meetings with a group of students working on a national magazine contest.
Boulter first met the Mariathasan brothers when they were students at the University. He said they would
"They [are] such great entrepreneurs. It's the American Dream with these guys," Boulter said.
Mexico, and the company headquarters is in Denver, the bottle itself still bears Lawrence's name. Demetrio can be purchased at a liquor store for about $27.
"We are about as local of a Kansas company as tequila can be," Marion said.
Although Demetrio Tequila is produced in Jalisco,
— Edited by Logan Schlossberg
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Paul Davis, Kansas Democrats' candidate for governor, discusses his proposal to reverse part of Republican Gov Sam Brownback's overhaul of the state's Medicaid program during a news conference on Oct. 8.
Davis promises to undo Kansas Medicaid change
TOPEKA — Democratic challenger Paul Davis on Wednesday proposed reversing part of Republican Gov. Sam Brownback's overhaul of the Kansas Medicaid program, appealing to vocal advocates for the disabled in a political race that remains a toss-up.
Davis said during a Statehouse news conference that if he defeats Brownback,he'll end three private health insurance companies' oversight of in-home
support services for about 8,500 developmentally disabled Kansans. The firms' oversight is part of the insurers' management of the state's $3 billion-a-year Medicaid program, which covers medical and in-home services for the poor and disabled.
Brownback's administration contracted with the companies to manage Medicaid starting last year and says privatization led to better-coordinated care for the program's 363,000 participants, at less cost to the state. But advocates for the developmentally disabled argued that the
change represented unnecessary additional level of bureaucracy in securing services.
The administration didn't initially include support services for the developmentally disabled in the overhauled program, now called KanCare, until February 2014, due to the vocal protests. And now, some families and advocates remain upset about KanCare as independent polls show the race between Davis and Brownback close or a dead heat.
Associated Press
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