You should know this because voter ID is one of the most debated topics in American politics, especially in recent years (SAVE America Act). On one hand, there’s election integrity, and on the other, voter access.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/46320788

Of these states, six have Democratic trifectas, 23 have Republican trifectas, and seven have divided governments. There are currently 14 states that do not require identification at the polls outside of what is required by federal law. Of these 14 states, 10 have Democratic trifectas, and four have a divided government.

  • The2b@lemmy.vgEnglish
    283·
    2 days ago

    Because not everyone is capable of getting an ID. For one, they’re not free, so requiring one is effectively a voting tax, preventing the poorest of our community members from having a say in our government.

    Two, even if they were free monetarily, they’re not free to get in terms of time. If you’re working 16 hours a day at 2 jobs for example, when are you supposed to take time to go to the DMV to get an ID or license? This is particularly hard for, again, poorer people who have to work multiple jobs to stay afloat.

    Three, there really is no problem that requiring an ID at a polling station solves. Of the BILLIONS of votes in the Heritage Foundation’s (a VERY conservative thinktank, the one Trump tapped for most of his judicial nominations) database recording voter fraud events, they have a little more than 1000 instances of SUSPECTED voter fraud. That’s about 0.0001% of votes cast are suspected to be fraudulent by the people trying to push the policy to correct the problem.

    Meanwhile, these laws prevent more people from voting legally each election than have ever been suspected of voting fraudulantly since we have been keeping records. They are doing research to find the specific forms of IDs the people who vote against them tend to have or not have, and explicitly targetting them to ensure as few votes against them are allowed to be cast. It is an inheirently undemocratic solution to a problem which the proponents of the policy openly state does not exist.