At a time when states are struggling to close record budget deficits and grappling with important issues on everything from education to health care, Republican-led state legislatures across the country have fixated on a problem that doesn’t exist, but is politically advantageous: voter fraud. Although voter fraud is exceptionally rare and, when it does occur, is usually the result of confusion rather than malicious intent, Republicans have used the crisis atmosphere to advance laws that require voters to present certain approved forms of identification before they can cast their ballots. In this legislative session, at least thirty-seven state legislatures are considering or have considered voter ID or proof of citizenship legislation. As ThinkProgress has documented, these laws disenfranchise millions of voters and disproportionately affect key progressive constituencies, including seniors, college students, minorities, and low-income voters. Although voter ID laws cost states millions to implement, Republican governors and state legislatures have often pushed them through as “emergency measures” that demand expedited consideration for the sake of the budget. As Campus Progress first reported, the original prototype bill for voter ID legislation was drafted by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a conservative organization linked to the billionaire Koch brothers. In the run up to the 2012 election, these bills have a clear partisan intent and are predicted to depress voter turnout, in addition to robbing millions of citizens of their fundamental right to have a voice in the democratic process.

A SOLUTION IN SEARCH OF A PROBLEM: The allegation of widespread voter fraud is, of course, a Republican myth. During the George W. Bush administration, the Justice Department launched an exhaustive investigation of voter fraud – and turned up only 38 cases nationwide between October 2002 and September 2005, of which only 13 resulted in convictions. In 2007, New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice researched Republican charges of voter fraud and found that, “It is more likely that an individual will be struck by lightning than that he will impersonate another voter at the polls.” One article in a South Carolina paper astutely called voter fraud “the phantom menace” and “a non-existent threat.” Yet to hear Republicans tell the tale, voter fraud is a massive epidemic so threatening to our democracy that it’s necessary to disenfranchise millions of Americans in order to secure the “integrity of the ballot box.” Of course, making it more difficult for minorities, college students, the elderly, and the poor to vote does precisely the opposite — it weakens our democracy, depressing turnout and making election results less representative of the people’s will. In short, the only fraud being perpetrated is the allegation of voter fraud.

LOCKING THE BALLOT BOX: Yesterday, South Carolina became the tenth state to adopt voter identification legislation. Texas will likely become the eleventh this week or next when Gov. Rick Perry (R) signs the bill presented to him on Monday. Earlier this month, the Florida legislature passed a “sweeping rewrite” of state election law at “head-spinning speed.” Governor Rick Scott (R) is expected to approve the legislation when it reaches his desk. Facing an unprecedented recall effort, Wisconsin Republican have been trying to hustle through their own voter ID bill that will go into effect immediately – a clear sign they are scared of the upcoming elections. The speed at which the state’s bill is advancing has alarmed the board that overseas elections, whose director commented, “There has been no time for the careful evaluation and vetting needed to ensure the best options for voters and election officials is enacted.” And even though New Hampshire’s voter ID bill has not yet become state law, illegal signs have appeared at some polling stations demanding voters show ID before they vote. While dramatically restricting access to the ballot box through ID requirements, Republicans have also successfully limited or prohibited early voting and other provisions intended to make it easier for the most vulnerable citizens to vote. In Florida, a state that implemented early voting as a reform to “prevent embarrassments like the 2000 election,” the voter ID bill under consideration would cut the time for early voting from fourteen days to eight. In South Carolina, Gov. Haley and her Republican allies insisted on a “clean” version of the bill that would not allow early voting. One publication noted that passing a voter ID bill without early voting demonstrates a clear “partisan bias.” On Tuesday, Senate Democrats in Wisconsin spent nine hours proposing amendments to the voter ID bill, including an amendment to ensure the disabled community’s ability to vote absentee. Republicans shot down every motion. While these measures will be disastrous for minority voting rights, they’ve already been good for some political careers. A South Carolina Republican was named “Legislator of the Year” for his relentless efforts over three years to pass voter ID legislation.

THE TRUE COST: The dozens of states considering voter ID laws are discovering just how expensive it is to disenfranchise their citizens. A Brennan Center report points out that these laws impose a huge financial burden on states, and concludes that implementing voter ID legislation “will involve money states simply don’t have.” It will cost Texas taxpayers $2 million next year to implement the proposed law — “not a small amount of money for a state with a budget deficit of about $27 billion.” Florida’s bill will cost more than $5.7 million to implement, at a time when Gov. Scott Walker (R) is claiming the state is broke and needs to restrict public employees’ collective bargaining rights to survive. Of course, the real cost to states and the country isn’t just financial. These laws could disenfranchise up to 12 percent of the American electorate. South Carolina’s new law “immediately disenfranchises eight percent of registered voters in the state,” or 180,000 citizens, according to the NAACP and ACLU. In Wisconsin, 175,000 seniors — 70 percent of them women — do not have a driver’s licenses and may have to “get a ride at least 50 miles round trip to obtain an identification card to enable them to continue their constitutional right to vote,” according to one state senator. In a country with a long history of denying suffrage to minority groups, voter ID bills revive painful memories of racial segregation and disenfranchisement. It’s not hard too see troubling echoes of Jim Crow in the new wave of legislation. When the South Carolina House looked as if it would pass the legislation last year, “members of the Legislative Black Caucus and others stood up and walked out of the House chamber to show their collective disgust.” Democrats say it’s no coincidence that Republicans renewed their disenfranchisement efforts after Barack Obama was elected president. “In 2008, we had too many black folk, too many brown folk, too many poor folk voting,” said South Carolina state Representative David J. Mack III. “They (Republicans) can’t have that in 2012.”