4 ms·
I didn't go through the entire list, but it does seem like a lot of those countries either use a standard national ID, or have a nationally issued voter ID. Un
by Talanes 5y ago
I didn't go through the entire list, but it does seem like a lot of those countries either use a standard national ID, or have a nationally issued voter ID.
Unfortunately, federally assigned IDs are a weirdly hot-button issue in America. Whether it's the libertarian insistence that national ID leads to authoritarianism[1], or the evangelical strain that sees it as a potential Mark of the Beast[2].
[1] https://www.cato.org/commentary/you-value-privacy-resist-any-form-national-id-cards# https://www.cato.org/commentary/you-value-privacy-resist-any...
[2] https://www.huffpost.com/entry/the-national-biometric-id_b_542821 https://www.huffpost.com/entry/the-national-biometric-id_b_5...
- vinay427 5y agoNational ID is certainly not a requirement for voter ID, and there’s no reason I can find so far that state/local ID couldn’t be mandated instead. While you’re correct that most countries that require voter ID have a national ID card, I would guess that’s more of a correlation due to a latent variable that underlies both of these: possibly some sort of trust in a national authority (relative to local authorities), ease and necessity of international travel within Europe requiring convenient proof of citizenship, etc.
- Talanes 5y agoState IDs being used for voting means that who gets to vote is controlled by individual States ID laws, and we don't generally trust other States to get it right.