The not-so-hidden secret is that voter id laws would stop one type of fraud - in person voting fraud, or the most logistically challenging and hardest to do. Most old white people rely disproportionately on mail-in voting, oddly enough there are no pushes to restrict access to this method of voting (even though it is the easiest to defraud) - voting fraud legislation tends to focus on the methods that minorities use.
That's not really true. Republicans have also fought against having open access to mail in ballots. In many states you need to have a "justification" in order to get a mail-in ballot. If anyone could get a mail-in ballot it would be good for minorities and the poor as you wouldn't have to actually go to the polls.
Not just red states have this rule. New York, hardly a bastion of conservatism, also restricts absentee voting:
>Qualifications to Vote by Absentee Ballot
>Absent from your county or, if a resident of New York City absent from said city, on Election Day.
>Unable to appear at the polls due to temporary or permanent illness or disability; or because you are the primary care giver of one or more individuals who are ill or physically disabled.
>A patient or inmate in a Veterans' Administration Hospital.
>Detained in jail awaiting Grand Jury action or confined in prison after conviction for an offense other than a felony.
The New York State legislature is often controlled by both parties and it's in the GOP's best interests to do what they can to stifle the vote while they have control.
