So says an analysis of voter fraud cases in five states — including Texas — between 2012 and 2016, by the Carnegie-Knight News21 program. There were indeed 38 cases litigated at the state level, but “none of the cases prosecuted was for voter impersonation,” according to the report. And of those 38 cases, at least one-third involved election officials or volunteers, not voters.

A person showing up to vote claiming to be another person doesn’t happen often at all, including in Texas.

Four years ago, News21 examined 2,068 alleged election fraud cases over 12 years in all 50 states. It found 10 cases of voter impersonation — out of millions of votes cast.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker told News21 that the number of in-person voter fraud is irrelevant.

“All it takes is one person whose vote is canceled by someone not voting legally, and that’s a problem,” he said. “I always tell people who oppose (voter ID), tell me whose vote they want canceled out.”

This ignores proportionality. The number of Texans without the proper photo ID is more than 600,000. Walker’s reasoning is what led the judge who struck down parts of Wisconsin’s voter ID law to remark, “Wisconsin’s strict version of voter ID law is a cure worse than the disease.”

Two courts, a U.S. District Court in Corpus Christi and the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, had similar words when they ruled that Texas’ voter ID was discriminatory and ordered changes.

And the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals said North Carolina’s law intentionally targeted “African Americans with almost surgical precision.”

Absentee voting — disproportionately used by whites, and in use in Texas as well — is more likely to invite fraud, but this isn’t targeted by lawmakers. The court said North Carolina ignored absentee voting in favor of targeting voter impersonation, a problem “that did not exist.”

These rulings indicate that the courts will no longer take legislative claims at face value when it comes to voting. In these cases, the courts did something legislatures didn’t — consider the facts. We hope this trend persists.

This newest report — joining others before it — demonstrates that the reasons offered have indeed been bogus. In effect and intent, voter ID has been about voter suppression.