Status Threat, Political Competition, and the Expansion of Voter Identification Laws in the United States

Objective Voter identification requirements in the U.S. are on a dramatic uptick and are becoming less forgiving. When do states phase in or adopt stricter voter ID laws? I propose an elite‐driven explanation. Building on the “racial threat” hypothesis, I argue that these provisions are a legal device exploited by legislators representing white majorities to safeguard the status quo in view of the “threat” posed to the establishment by the growing size of racial minorities, and that this effect is moderated by political competition. I introduce the concept of “majority gap,” the surplus of population belonging to the majority in relation to the size of all minority groups combined. Methods I test my theory in the context of state legislatures, using two‐way fixed‐effects regression. Results I show that, on average, Republicans present voter identification‐related proposals twice as often as Democrats and that governors rarely interfere with these proposals. I find that when Republicans control both chambers of a state assembly, the shrinking magnitude of the majority gap is associated with a significant expansion in ID requirements. Conclusion This article contributes to the research on the disenfranchisement of racial minorities by shedding some light on the expansion of voter identification laws as a mechanism for White‐controlled legislatures to potentially “gatekeep” the polls.