According to a study conducted by the University of Delaware's Center for Political Communication, support for Voter ID laws is linked to one's feelings about Blacks.
The findings showed that the more resentment a person conveyed, the more likely they were to support Voter ID laws, which many have claimed will disenfranchise numerous Black voters, among others.
Respondents that identified as Republicans had the highest scores in terms of racial resentment but self-identified Republicans and conservatives support the laws regardless of how much resentment they conveyed. The findings showed that Democrat and liberal respondents were most likely to be informed by racial resentment.
Currently the Department of Justice (DOJ) is in the midst of a legal battle with the state of Texas because it blocked the state's newest Voter ID law in March. Attorney General Eric Holder has likened the law to a "poll tax", which was a Jim Crow era practice designed to prevent Blacks from voting.
He has said it could disenfranchise the 25 percent of voting age Blacks in Texas who don't have the government issued identification the law requires. According to the DOJ, 600,000 registered voters in Texas lack a driver's license or another form of government identification.
Texas Governor Rick Perry has asked Holder to apologize for his comments because he says they could incite "racial tensions".
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 32 states have Voter ID laws and since the 2010 midterm elections, at least 11 states have pushed through harsher ones.
Read more at The Huffington Post Black Voices.