Black turnout dropped by 3.7 percentage points more than white turnout in Kansas, and by 1.5 percentage points more than whites in Tennessee after voter ID laws passed. Among 18 year olds, turnout dropped by 7.1 percentage points more in Kansas than it did among those aged 44 to 53 year-olds in Kansas. Turnout in Tennessee fell by 1.2 percentage points more among those aged 19 to 23 than among the older set.

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The report came at the request of Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) and Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), after a Supreme Court ruling earlier this year eliminated some parts of the Voting Rights Act. The senators said the report showed both the restrictive impacts of voter identification laws and the high costs of obtaining an identification.

“This report is even more proof that these state laws significantly suppress and discourage Americans from exercising their constitutionally protected right to vote,” Durbin said in a statement.

Studies the GAO analyzed found a significant number of voters across racial and age groups — between 5 and 20 percent — do not have identifications required to get a ballot, and minorities are disproportionately likely to lack those documents. One study found that only 79 percent of African Americans in Texas have a driver’s license, state-issued ID card or a gun permit, compared with 89 percent of whites. In Wisconsin, another study found 94 percent of eligible white voters had an identification, versus 85 percent of registered African Americans.

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In recent years, Republican legislators have moved to establish new voter identification laws in states across the country, ostensibly to combat voter fraud. Democrats worry the laws disproportionately impact minorities and younger voters, voters who are most likely to back Democratic candidates.

New voter identification laws go into effect in states like Wisconsin this year, and in North Carolina in 2016. About 172,000 white voters and 107,000 black voters don’t have the appropriate identification to cast a ballot in North Carolina, the State Board of Elections found in a 2013 report.

Other studies of whether voter identification laws have an impact on turnout have come to mixed conclusions. Some have found no impact, while others have concluded identification laws decrease turnout by between 1 and 4 percentage points.

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Identifications can cost between $14.50 and $58.50 in states that require documentation to vote, depending on where the cards are issued. Most states with voter identification laws provide ID cards for free for the purposes of voting, though Democrats say many of those states place substantial burdens on voters because licensing offices are so far away from their homes.