More live updates from the Senate:

Now Republican Sen. Fraser argues that his bill would actually raise turnout. He points to Indiana, which has strictest Voter ID law in the nation, and says that that state had the fifth-largest turnout increase, and the greatest among Democrats, in the nation between the 2004 and 2008 presidential elections. He also says turnout shot up in Georgia. The turnout increase was because “people felt their vote was secure.”

Laredo’s Judith Zaffirini points out the obvious: Perhaps the increases were due to Obama’s charisma as a candidate, “and perhaps without voter ID the turnout would have doubled or tripled.”

This article appears in March 6 • 2009.

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