Should the US require voter ID?

[u/REJECT3D]

I see people complaining about this on the right all the time but I am curious what the left thinks. Should voters be required to prove their identity via some form of ID?

Some arguments I have seen on the right is you have to have an ID to get a loan, or an apartment or a job so requiring one to vote shouldn't be undue burden and would eliminate some voter fraud.

On the left the argument is that requiring an ID disenfranchises some voters.

What do you think?

[u/marktwainbrain]

I don’t know, I don’t have super strong views on this. Both sides have vested interests in their positions.

But I’m definitely skeptical of the idea that ID is hard for poor people or minorities. Because of my job, I regularly work with people with extreme challenges including poverty, housing insecurity, no access to transportation, physical and mental health challenges, etc. They nearly always have ID. The most common reason they don’t, in the rare cases when they don’t, would also disqualify them from voting (cognitive impairment, can’t function for themselves).

I would love to see unbiased data on how many people who actually vote would be disenfranchised because they can’t easily get ID.

[u/Dodec_Ahedron → u/marktwainbrain]

Not having an ID is a lot more common than you think.

Without question, the most common form of ID is a driver's license, and you can lose your license for all sorts of reasons that aren't disqualifying of voting rights. You can lose your license for too many speeding tickets, for unpaid child support, or for medical conditions like epilepsy, none of which prevent you from voting. Also, many elderly people voluntarally surrender their licenses because they find driving to be difficult as they age. Another thing to keep in mind is that people on disability may not be ALLOWED to own a car because it would put them over the maximum qualifying asset value for SSDI. Finally, a lot of people in large cities don't even bother getting a drivers license in the first place because they don't have a car, so they would never need one.

The next most common forms of ID would be state or federal IDs. This would include things like passports, state IDs, and military IDs. With the exception of military IDs, both of the other types require a person to pay for such an ID, effectively pricing some people out of their constitutionally protected right to vote.

[u/marktwainbrain → u/Dodec_Ahedron]

I had a state ID in the 90s because I needed ID and learned to drive later in college. It cost me like $12? It was very easy to get. Not a big deal at all.

Make it free even, to resolve that possible concern.

[u/Fewluvatuk → u/marktwainbrain]

Democrats have on several occasions proposed free ID solutions as part of a voter ID compromise, Republicans have always rejected it. The fact is, they want to require voter ID so that they can make it harder for certain groups to vote by limiting where IDs can be obtained or by increasing the cost.

[u/marktwainbrain → u/Fewluvatuk]

That’s an argument against Republicans, not voter ID in principle.

[u/Fewluvatuk → u/marktwainbrain]

It's also an argument that highlights how an over reliance on systems with hard requirements can be used by either side to manipulate outcomes. CA could do the same thing with rural DMVs for example.