3 ms·

It's not even that you have to pay a couple of bucks for an ID, it's that you have to get to a DMV, wait in line for five hours (true story, thanks Connecticut)

It's not even that you have to pay a couple of bucks for an ID, it's that you have to get to a DMV, wait in line for five hours (true story, thanks Connecticut), and then get sent home because you didn't bring 8 pieces of mail sent to your previous 3 addresses, and the raised seal on your birth certificate (if you even have your birth certificate) was the wrong diameter (not quite true story, exaggerated for dramatic effect). If my mom hadn't been there to very vocally insist that yes, that is the original birth certificate that the hospital issued after I was born, and yes she would know because she was there, then I would've had an awfully hard time getting a photo ID. Coupled with DMV closures that (depending on who you ask) were targeted along racial lines, these little cards that we take for granted can be damn near impossible for some citizens to get. https://thinkprogress.org/after-alabama-enforces-voter-id-shuts-down-dmvs-in-black-communities-lawmaker-wants-investigation-94de2c4a5dd9?gi=d3e68630a3e2 https://thinkprogress.org/after-alabama-enforces-voter-id-sh...

toss1941 10y ago
That would be a valid argument if a) you didn't need your ID/Drivers license for virtually everything else that's good in society and b) You had to wait until registration day to get an ID card. The fair thing to do is to require proper identification in elections. The fair thing to do is to make sure anyone that needs an ID/Drivers license is able to get one, if they are verifiable citizens.
CWuestefeld 10y ago
Isn't that mostly an argument to fix broken bureaucracies around IDs? And they are broken, to be sure. I recently moved away from NJ, but when I was there, renewing my driver's license was a real chore. Their antiquated computer system can't hold a string as long as "Christopher", so they abbreviate on my DL. That becomes a problem at renewal time, because my DL does not match my other IDs, so I always must supply my birth certificate, and jump through other hoops. That system is broken, and needs fixing irrespective of voting rights.
edwhitesell 10y ago
Heh, try Texas. Vehicle registration and Drivers Licenses are done in different places. If you register the vehicle(s) first, you have to bring proof that you've registered any/all vehicle(s) when you get your license. This is very difficult when you have multiple vehicles, drive in one car with your wife and all vehicles are in both of your names. The fun part is the registration is the window sticker and you don't need to keep any other paperwork as proof of registration (so we didn't). Also, they can't look up registrations because of different computer systems. We had to take pictures of all the registration stickers, email them to the person processing our license applications (while we sat at the desk), then waited for an hour while they called the state Police to verify the plates matched our address and our names. After all of that, we both received our licenses in the mail with typos on them. The most humorous part of the whole situation: We lived in Texas before (and both of our previous licenses were still within the expiration dates). But, we were told, because we had obtained licenses in another state we had to do new applications. Our new licenses have the same ID numbers as the previous ones.

toss1941 10y ago

That would be a valid argument if a) you didn't need your ID/Drivers license for virtually everything else that's good in society and b) You had to wait until registration day to get an ID card. The fair thing to do is to require proper identification in elections. The fair thing to do is to make sure anyone that needs an ID/Drivers license is able to get one, if they are verifiable citizens.

CWuestefeld 10y ago

Isn't that mostly an argument to fix broken bureaucracies around IDs? And they are broken, to be sure. I recently moved away from NJ, but when I was there, renewing my driver's license was a real chore. Their antiquated computer system can't hold a string as long as "Christopher", so they abbreviate on my DL. That becomes a problem at renewal time, because my DL does not match my other IDs, so I always must supply my birth certificate, and jump through other hoops. That system is broken, and needs fixing irrespective of voting rights.

edwhitesell 10y ago

Heh, try Texas. Vehicle registration and Drivers Licenses are done in different places. If you register the vehicle(s) first, you have to bring proof that you've registered any/all vehicle(s) when you get your license. This is very difficult when you have multiple vehicles, drive in one car with your wife and all vehicles are in both of your names. The fun part is the registration is the window sticker and you don't need to keep any other paperwork as proof of registration (so we didn't). Also, they can't look up registrations because of different computer systems. We had to take pictures of all the registration stickers, email them to the person processing our license applications (while we sat at the desk), then waited for an hour while they called the state Police to verify the plates matched our address and our names. After all of that, we both received our licenses in the mail with typos on them. The most humorous part of the whole situation: We lived in Texas before (and both of our previous licenses were still within the expiration dates). But, we were told, because we had obtained licenses in another state we had to do new applications. Our new licenses have the same ID numbers as the previous ones.