[eli]

I picked the GAO report because they have a reputation for solid, unbiased work. But a quick google will find you many other citations. Quite a few people have come independently to the conclusion that it decreases turnout among populations that tend to vote Democrat.

So that's a problem. Making ID cards free would probably help, but the other issue is that you're weighing the potential disenfranchisement of some marginalized people on one side against a phantom "voter fraud" boogeyman on the other side. In-person voter fraud basically never happens. There's no need to take any steps to stamp it out.

There are so many better ways to spend that time and effort -- improving the vote-by-mail process, to pick an easy example.