The effect of voter-identification (voter-ID) laws on turnout is a
hot-button issue in contemporary American politics. In April of
2008, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed Indiana's voter-ID law, the
nation's most rigorous, which requires voters to arrive at the polls
with a state-issued photo ID containing an expiration date
(Crawford v. Marion County 2008). In a famous
incident highlighting how Hoosiers were dealing with their state's
voter-ID law, representative Julia Carson (D-IN) was initially
blocked from voting during Indiana's 2006 primary election for
failing to comply with Indiana's voter-identification standard.
Carson identified herself with her congressional ID card; since that
card did not include an expiration date and therefore did not meet
Indiana's voter-identification law, she was turned away at the polls
before later being allowed to vote (Goldstein 2006). The rising wave of public, political,
and legal debate crested two years later in the wake of the Supreme
Court ruling and during the Indiana primaries, with reports of a
dozen nuns being denied ballots at the polls due to their lack of
appropriate identification (Urbina 2008).