According to Mary Bottari, the deputy director at the Center for Media and Democracy, the “echo effects” of voter ID laws from state to state were no accident — they were based on a “model bill” from the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC.
ALEC provides a meeting ground for corporations and special interests to create model bills for state lawmakers, who often lean ideologically to the right. An investigation by Bottari and CMD, a left-leaning government watchdog that publishes the ALEC Exposed website, found similarities among the voter ID bills introduced around the country.
“Each bill is slightly different,” said Bottari, “it’s not a cookie cutter bill. Each state did something slightly different to screw over certain groups of people. So, for instance, students were uniquely screwed in Wisconsin.”