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Places where voter ID policies are unproblematic have ubiquitous national ID cards possessed by every citizen. The United States famously does not have a nation
by dkskskdkxmzn 8y ago
Places where voter ID policies are unproblematic have ubiquitous national ID cards possessed by every citizen. The United States famously does not have a national ID card, and instead uses a patchwork of state level IDs which require different levels of effort and cost to acquire. Many citizens do not have a legal ID at all, and some citizens even lack the paperwork necessary to acquire them under current law. If every voter had an ID, or if the government went to great lengths to ensure that every citizen could get one, voter ID laws wouldn't be problem. But as it stands voter ID laws prevent hundreds of thousands of citizens from voting, and those citizens are disproportionately poor and racial minorities, meaning that voter ID requirements have deeply distortionary effects on the composition of the voting electorate.
- gambiting 8y agoSo how do you know someone is who they say they are? If someone is born and never acquires a nationally issued ID, how can they even prove they are american and have the right to be there?
- KC8ZKF 8y agoIn the US, there is a presumption that you have a right to be where you are. It's up to the authorities to demonstrate otherwise. Supposedly.
- ghaff 8y agoIf they were born in the US, they should have a social security number and be able to obtain a birth certificate. If your birth was never registered? That can be a problem. https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/invisible-girl/ https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/invisible-girl/ And I imagine if, as an adult, you don't have a birth certificate, aren't sure where you were born, and don't know your social security number, things can start to be difficult.
- cm2012 8y agoYeah, my wife's mom changed her name twice as a baby without saving any docs about it, so her passport doesn't match her birth certificate. It's a horrifying pain in the ass.