ISU College Democrats won a debate against the College Republicans at the annual Caucus Cup where members debated gun control and voter identification laws.

The first issue discussed was voter identification laws, which would require voters to have valid photo identification before voting in elections.

College Republicans said voter identification laws would ensure that the democratic process would not be corrupted by voter fraud.

“Voter fraud does happen. It has happened,” said Jonathon Laudner, junior in management information systems and member of College Republicans. “Twenty-six people in Iowa have been charged with voter fraud, and six have been found guilty. Voter fraud is a problem and voter ID will help solve the problem.”

College Democrats said that voter fraud happens so rarely that it is not a valid issue and that the laws would disincline voters from participating in the democratic process in the future.

“The cost of providing free IDs for everyone is very high,” Britteny Ross, junior in chemistry, said. Ross also said that many who are eligible to vote may not have access or funds to produce primary documents that are necessary to show in order to obtain an ID.

“If you look to government programs typically supplied to these people — Medicare, Medicaid and any other government assistance — you can go to their website, and they tell you on the website you need to be able to prove your citizenship with an ID,” said Nigel Hanson, sophomore in political science, in response to the College Democrats’ argument.

Laudner also said that there are proposed bills in the Iowa legislature that would allow free photo identification or a family member with a photo ID to vouch for those who are not able to obtain IDs for various reasons.

However, Khayree Fitten, sophomore in political science, said that the addition of voter identification laws would create more of a problem and financial burden than is necessary because of the rarity of voter fraud actually being proven.

The second issue discussed was gun control laws of which the College Democrats were in favor of tightening background tests and reducing the amount of high capacity magazines used in rifles owned by the general public.

“Unfortunately, there are still loopholes in the background check system,” Ross said. “Our proposal is to get rid of those loopholes.”

The College Republicans said background checks are not effective, citing a study where 50 percent of prisoners said they received guns from family members, friends or other places not legally licensed to sell guns.

College Democrats also said that the reduction of high capacity magazines would make America much safer in general.

College Republicans said that gun control laws are not the answer because they work conversely in reducing crime.

“It’s been shown that wherever gun control laws have been instituted, gun crimes may go down minutely, but violent crime sky rockets every time,” Hanson said. “Those laws make it worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants.”

The College Democrats will claim the Caucus Cup throughout the 2014-15 academic year until the next debate.