Do Voter ID Laws Burden Voters? [POLICYbrief]
Short video featuring Derek Muller and Daniel Tokaji
Short video featuring Derek Muller and Daniel Tokaji
The requirement to show identification in order to vote has become a topic of heated debate in recent years. Proponents argue that voter ID laws protect our elections from fraud, while opponents say these laws disenfranchise some eligible voters. Professor Derek Muller of Pepperdine University’s Caruso School of Law and Professor Daniel P. Tokaji of The Ohio State University’s Michael E. Moritz College of Law present differing views on the pros and cons of voter ID laws.
As always, the Federalist Society takes no position on particular legal or public policy issues; all expressions of opinion are those of the speaker.
Learn more about Professor Derek Muller:
https://www.pepperdine.edu/press-room/experts/derek-t-muller/
Learn more about Professor Daniel Tokaji:
https://moritzlaw.osu.edu/faculty/daniel-p-tokaji/
Related Links:
Voter ID: A Debate - Podcast
https://fedsoc.org/commentary/podcasts/voter-id-a-debate-podcast
The Right to Vote in an Age of Discontent
https://www.americanbar.org/groups/crsj/publications/human_rights_magazine_home/we-the-people/right-to-vote-in-age-of-discontent/
What's Old is New Again: The Nineteenth Century Voter Registration Debates and Lessons About Voter Identification Disputes
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3107326
Former United States Attorney General Meese on Voter ID Laws - Podcast
https://fedsoc.org/commentary/podcasts/former-united-states-attorney-general-meese-on-voter-id-laws-podcast
Differing Views:
"Voter Suppression" Is a Myth, but It's an Article of Faith to Liberals
https://www.heritage.org/election-integrity/commentary/voter-suppression-myth-its-article-faith-liberals
ACLU: Fighting Voter Suppression
https://www.aclu.org/issues/voting-rights/fighting-voter-suppression
The New Voter Suppression
https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/new-voter-suppression
The Myth of Voter Fraud
https://www.amazon.com/Myth-Voter-Fraud-Lorraine-Minnite/dp/0801448484
How The Trump Admin’s Attempt To Perpetuate The Voter Fraud Myth Failed Miserably
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/cafe/how-the-trump-administrations-attempt-to-perpetuate-the-voter-fraud-failed-miserably
Professor of Law, Notre Dame Law School
Professor Derek Muller is a nationally-recognized scholar in the field of election law. His research focuses on the role of states in the administration of federal elections, the constitutional contours of voting rights and election administration, the limits of judicial power in the domain of elections, and the Electoral College.
He has published more than two dozen academic works, and his op-eds have appeared in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and the Wall Street Journal. He has testified before Congress, and he is a contributor at the Election Law Blog. He is a co-author on a Federal Courts casebook published by Carolina Academic Press. He is also the co-reporter on a new Restatement of the Law, Election Litigation, an effort led by the American Law Institute.
Professor Muller teaches Election Law, Civil Procedure, and Evidence.
Associate Dean for Faculty; Charles W. Ebersold and Florence Whitcomb Ebersold Professor of Constitutional Law, The Ohio State University Mortiz College of Law
Professor Daniel Tokaji is an authority on the law of elections and democracy. He teaches courses on Election Law, Civil Rights, Civil Procedure, Comparative Law, Constitutional Law, Federal Courts, Legislation and Regulation, and the U.S. Legal System. His scholarship addresses questions of voting rights, racial justice, free speech, and the role of the courts in American democracy.
Professor Tokaji is the author of Election Law in a Nutshell (2d ed. 2016), and co-author of Election Law: Cases and Materials (6th ed. 2017) and The New Soft Money (2014). He has written numerous articles and book chapters on a wide variety of election and voting issues, including voting rights, voter ID, voter registration, redistricting, campaign finance regulation. Recent articles include “Gerrymandering and Association,” 59 William & Mary Law Review 2159 (2018), and “Denying Systemic Equality: The Last Words of the Kennedy Court,” 13 Harvard Law & Policy Review 539 (2019). His current research focuses on the challenges facing democracies around the globe, including the free speech issues surrounding digital disinformation and the need for trustworthy electoral institutions.
Media outlets frequently seek Professor Tokaji’s expertise on election and voting issues. He has been quoted in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The Columbus Dispatch, USA TODAY, and appeared on TODAY, FOX News, NBC News, and National Public Radio and many other media outlets.
A graduate of Harvard College and the Yale Law School, Professor Tokaji clerked for the Honorable Stephen Reinhardt of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Before arriving at Ohio State, he was a staff attorney with the ACLU Foundation of Southern California and Chair of California Common Cause.
Professor Tokaji has litigated many civil rights, civil liberties, and election law cases. He was lead counsel in a case that struck down an Ohio law requiring naturalized citizens to produce a certificate of naturalization when challenged at the polls. He also served as counsel in litigation challenging the state’s voting purges. He was also an attorney for plaintiffs in cases that kept open the window for simultaneous registration and early voting in Ohio’s 2008 general election, and that challenged punch-card voting systems in Ohio and California after the 2000 election.