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>As such, there's no real reason to support voter-ID laws, aside from deliberately trying to disenfranchise low-income voters. This is a common point, but I th

chc 8y ago
There are more people who lack ID for one reason or another (e.g. over 600,000 registered voters in Texas lacked the necessary types of ID to vote under its voter-ID law in 2014) than there are fraudulent voters, so if you're going to address one problem or the other, I think the one that actually happens is the better direction to err.
- specialist 8y ago
  My proposed solution is somewhat more simple: Universal, automatic voter registration moots this entire sideshow. Just like every other mature democracy.
secabeen 8y ago
>As such, there's no real reason to support voter-ID laws, aside from deliberately trying to disenfranchise low-income voters. This is a common point, but I think it assumes too much about low-income voters. You need an ID to access essentially all of the government services that low-income folks would need. That's not generally the case, as I understand it. Imagine a low-income senior, with a paid off home (or an inexpensive apartment or public housing unit) and a family that help take care of them. What do they need ID for? They don't drive. They may need medical care, but that only requires a medicare card, which is not valid ID (no picture, and just printed on plain paper). Social Security comes as a direct deposit to their bank account, which they opened years ago, before ID was required, or when they did have ID, since lost (or as a US Treasury check that they deposit or cash). Checks don't require ID. State SNAP/EBT/Food Stamp cards don't have a picture, and aren't valid ID.

chc 8y ago

There are more people who lack ID for one reason or another (e.g. over 600,000 registered voters in Texas lacked the necessary types of ID to vote under its voter-ID law in 2014) than there are fraudulent voters, so if you're going to address one problem or the other, I think the one that actually happens is the better direction to err.

specialist 8y ago
My proposed solution is somewhat more simple: Universal, automatic voter registration moots this entire sideshow. Just like every other mature democracy.

secabeen 8y ago

>As such, there's no real reason to support voter-ID laws, aside from deliberately trying to disenfranchise low-income voters. This is a common point, but I think it assumes too much about low-income voters. You need an ID to access essentially all of the government services that low-income folks would need. That's not generally the case, as I understand it. Imagine a low-income senior, with a paid off home (or an inexpensive apartment or public housing unit) and a family that help take care of them. What do they need ID for? They don't drive. They may need medical care, but that only requires a medicare card, which is not valid ID (no picture, and just printed on plain paper). Social Security comes as a direct deposit to their bank account, which they opened years ago, before ID was required, or when they did have ID, since lost (or as a US Treasury check that they deposit or cash). Checks don't require ID. State SNAP/EBT/Food Stamp cards don't have a picture, and aren't valid ID.