Crawford v. Marion County: Supreme Court Upholds Strict Voter ID Laws Despite No Evidence of In-Person Fraud

The Supreme Court upheld Indiana’s strict photo voter ID law in Crawford v. Marion County, ruling 6-3 that the state’s interest in preventing voter fraud and maintaining public confidence in elections justified the burden imposed on voters without qualifying identification. The decision opened the floodgates for voter ID laws across the country despite the absence of evidence that in-person voter fraud—the only type ID laws could prevent—was a significant problem.

Justice John Paul Stevens, a liberal appointee writing for a fractured majority, accepted Indiana’s stated justification of fraud prevention even though the state could not identify a single instance of in-person voter fraud that the law would have prevented. Stevens acknowledged that obtaining proper ID could burden some voters, particularly the elderly, disabled, and poor, but found the burden justified by the state’s interest in election integrity.

Indiana’s 2005 law required voters to present government-issued photo identification at the polls, with no option to sign an affidavit or cast a regular ballot if ID was unavailable. Voters without ID could cast provisional ballots but had to travel to a county office within ten days to present identification—a significant burden for those who lacked ID precisely because they had difficulty obtaining it. The law was passed on a party-line vote by Indiana’s Republican legislature.

The ACLU and other challengers presented evidence that hundreds of thousands of Indiana residents lacked qualifying ID, disproportionately including African Americans, Latinos, elderly citizens, and low-income voters. They argued the law was a solution in search of a problem, designed to suppress Democratic-leaning voters rather than prevent fraud. Justice David Souter’s dissent noted that “the State has made no showing of any such crime in Indiana.”

Crawford immediately accelerated the spread of voter ID laws. Before 2006, no state required photo ID to vote; by 2012, more than 30 states had enacted ID requirements. The decision legitimized voter suppression measures by accepting fraud prevention rationales without requiring evidence of actual fraud. ALEC model legislation spread strict ID requirements to Republican-controlled states nationwide.

The decision represented judicial endorsement of a voter suppression strategy developed by Republican operatives and think tanks. Hans von Spakovsky, who had championed ID laws at the Justice Department, later joined the Heritage Foundation to continue the campaign. Crawford’s legacy was a wave of laws that studies would later show reduced turnout among minority and low-income voters while preventing virtually no fraud—precisely the outcome critics predicted.