Herrick, Davis and Pryor work for Oklahoma State University.

Strict voter ID laws require residents to possess a valid, state-approved identification in order to vote.

Support and opposition to these laws primarily fall along party lines. Proponents — mainly Republicans — argue they are needed to protect the integrity of the electoral process. Opponents, who tend to be Democrats, say they're not necessary to reduce voter fraud.

Democrats have a point: In-person voting fraud is almost nonexistent. President Trump's now-defunct Voter Fraud Commission, which was supposed to investigate voter fraud during the 2016 election, was unable to unearth any significant evidence.

Critics claim Republicans don't really care about electoral integrity — that voter ID laws are about suppressing the turnout of minority voters, since these voters are less likely to possess legal forms of identification. Democratic candidates and activists routinely evoke these laws as tools of voter suppression.

But a growing body of evidence — which includes a study we published earlier this year — finds that strict voter ID laws do not appear to disproportionately suppress voter turnout among African Americans, Asian Americans or people of mixed races.

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