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There is no national identity card in the United States and there traditionally has been strong bipartisan resistance against this sort of an initiative in this

There is no national identity card in the United States and there traditionally has been strong bipartisan resistance against this sort of an initiative in this country. The defacto "photo ID" in the United States is a state issued driver's license. Yes, some places informally use this for age verification as a result. But not everyone has the ability to drive (whether by choice or by disability), so not everyone is going to have this document. So identification for this purpose will have to rely on a patchwork of various documents in order for it to work. But even considering this, if photo ID were tailored in a bipartisan manner as such to ensure complete access is possible, there probably wouldn't be a problem. Unfortunately this does not seem to be the case in some states. The classic argument you hear, for instance, regarding Texas' often-struck-down-but-still-living-on voting ID requirements (https://www.sos.state.tx.us/elections/forms/id/acceptable-forms-of-ID.pdf https://www.sos.state.tx.us/elections/forms/id/acceptable-fo...), is that a handgun license is considered a sufficient form of voting ID, but a college photo ID is not. I will add, reviewing the document, that from my perspective, it is logically puzzling to me why, for those aged 70 and older, it is okay to have an infinitely expired ID and still be allowed to vote given the typical "voter ID" arguments you hear in favor. Unless there is a "demographic advantage" here that the law is covertly aiming for, that is.

XorNot 8y ago
Or put another way: if voter ID were considered a serious issue, then the obvious first issue to solve would be establishing a new national ID system. This would solve other problems - for example the use of insecure social security numbers as de facto national ID, and passwords, which you give to everybody yet can be used to steal your identity simply by knowing. Like, this is actually a big problem in the US that affects numerous people, and would save the economy million of dollars minimum, probably more, by solving in a secure way. Then, with reasonable confidence that national ID had the uptake rate necessary to pull it's lack of below the level of impact which would effect elections, you could make voter ID mandatory. Weirdly, no one ever seems to start with the - far more problematic - "hey national ID is kind of a big problem..." when they propose voter ID though. They also don't start with any data about in-person voter fraud (except if you count all the people who get caught trying to commit it to "prove" it's totally easy to do everytime this comes up).
JCharante 8y ago
Isn't this why states offer State IDs? I lack the ability to drive, but wanted a form of ID other than my passport, especially once I turned 18, which is why I got one.
- soundwave106 8y ago
  It is and if voting id laws are shaped in a non discriminatory manner, this could be one of many alternative documents to the "standard" driving license. But equal access is what matters here. If the ruleset is such where you make it a lot easier for certain groups to vote over other groups, chances are you will be found to be in violation of the 24th amendment or at least the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment. Texas voter IDs have been struck down more often than not so far so obviously a lot of judges have taken a dim view to Texas' intent.
CompanionCuuube 8y ago
>The classic argument you hear, for instance, regarding Texas' often-struck-down-but-still-living-on voting ID requirements, is that a handgun license is considered a sufficient form of voting ID, but a college photo ID is not. It's a terrible argument to anyone who thinks for a moment: A handgun license is issued by a state government agency, often with antifraud features. A college photo id, not so much.
- soundwave106 8y ago
  For that reason I actually think the allowance of identification that has long been expired, for those over 70, is the stronger sign of the direction. Why is old age a privilege in Texas voter ID law in that you no longer have to actively renew your identification documents like the rest of us? It kind of waters down any claim that "fraud" is the real motivation to me vs demographics. The general media however has focused on the college ID vs handgun permit argument. So it has to be mentioned.

XorNot 8y ago

Or put another way: if voter ID were considered a serious issue, then the obvious first issue to solve would be establishing a new national ID system. This would solve other problems - for example the use of insecure social security numbers as de facto national ID, and passwords, which you give to everybody yet can be used to steal your identity simply by knowing. Like, this is actually a big problem in the US that affects numerous people, and would save the economy million of dollars minimum, probably more, by solving in a secure way. Then, with reasonable confidence that national ID had the uptake rate necessary to pull it's lack of below the level of impact which would effect elections, you could make voter ID mandatory. Weirdly, no one ever seems to start with the - far more problematic - "hey national ID is kind of a big problem..." when they propose voter ID though. They also don't start with any data about in-person voter fraud (except if you count all the people who get caught trying to commit it to "prove" it's totally easy to do everytime this comes up).

JCharante 8y ago

Isn't this why states offer State IDs? I lack the ability to drive, but wanted a form of ID other than my passport, especially once I turned 18, which is why I got one.

soundwave106 8y ago
It is and if voting id laws are shaped in a non discriminatory manner, this could be one of many alternative documents to the "standard" driving license. But equal access is what matters here. If the ruleset is such where you make it a lot easier for certain groups to vote over other groups, chances are you will be found to be in violation of the 24th amendment or at least the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment. Texas voter IDs have been struck down more often than not so far so obviously a lot of judges have taken a dim view to Texas' intent.

CompanionCuuube 8y ago

>The classic argument you hear, for instance, regarding Texas' often-struck-down-but-still-living-on voting ID requirements, is that a handgun license is considered a sufficient form of voting ID, but a college photo ID is not. It's a terrible argument to anyone who thinks for a moment: A handgun license is issued by a state government agency, often with antifraud features. A college photo id, not so much.

soundwave106 8y ago
For that reason I actually think the allowance of identification that has long been expired, for those over 70, is the stronger sign of the direction. Why is old age a privilege in Texas voter ID law in that you no longer have to actively renew your identification documents like the rest of us? It kind of waters down any claim that "fraud" is the real motivation to me vs demographics. The general media however has focused on the college ID vs handgun permit argument. So it has to be mentioned.