In WI, if you can't afford an ID you can get one for free for voting purposes (heading "FREE Wisconsin ID cards for voting"):
http://www.dot.wisconsin.gov/drivers/drivers/apply/idcard.ht...
'If I Need ID to Buy Cough Syrup, Why Shouldn't I Need ID to Vote?'
11–20 of 118 posts
Re: 'If I Need ID to Buy Cough Syrup, Why Shouldn't I Need ID to Vote?'
#12I don't know what the fuck makes me more sick: 1) that in the US, an electricity bill is sufficient for voting ID purposes (WTF) or 2) that the US don't have mandatory ID cards. Even our new German ID cards only cost €20 apiece, and if you're too poor you can get benefits. Hello, ID fraud.
I'd argue Germany is ahead democracy-wise than even our most progressive US states.
I'm both a German and US citizen, have lived back and forth between the two countries my entire life, and vote in both countries. Germany is definitely far ahead in the mechanics of democracy: ballot design, voter education, voter id, single set of coherent rules across the nation, etc. That's the benefit of having a great reset of the country a mere 70 years ago (or 23 years ago, depending on where in Germany).
Re: 'If I Need ID to Buy Cough Syrup, Why Shouldn't I Need ID to Vote?'
#13I don't know what the fuck makes me more sick: 1) that in the US, an electricity bill is sufficient for voting ID purposes (WTF) or 2) that the US don't have mandatory ID cards. Even our new German ID cards only cost €20 apiece, and if you're too poor you can get benefits. Hello, ID fraud.
I was given a national ID card, it's call a social security card. That is my unique identifying number as an American.
It's not particularly useful as an ID without an expiration, photo, etc. and you're supposed to keep it somewhere safe, not with you.
Re: 'If I Need ID to Buy Cough Syrup, Why Shouldn't I Need ID to Vote?'
#14I don't know what the fuck makes me more sick: 1) that in the US, an electricity bill is sufficient for voting ID purposes (WTF) or 2) that the US don't have mandatory ID cards. Even our new German ID cards only cost €20 apiece, and if you're too poor you can get benefits. Hello, ID fraud.
I'd argue Germany is ahead democracy-wise than even our most progressive US states.
Yes. You have to register at the Police station when you move and hospitals have to report if patients are illegal aliens. Very advanced.
Re: 'If I Need ID to Buy Cough Syrup, Why Shouldn't I Need ID to Vote?'
#15If I ever lose the right to buy cough syrup, I might win it back by voting.
If I ever lose the right to vote, can I win it back by buying cough syrup?
Re: 'If I Need ID to Buy Cough Syrup, Why Shouldn't I Need ID to Vote?'
#16I don't know what the fuck makes me more sick: 1) that in the US, an electricity bill is sufficient for voting ID purposes (WTF) or 2) that the US don't have mandatory ID cards. Even our new German ID cards only cost €20 apiece, and if you're too poor you can get benefits. Hello, ID fraud.
IIRC, most states that have instituted voter id laws have made the cost of an ID free. Also, expired drivers licenses work as identification (for the elderly who have ceased driving).
Re: 'If I Need ID to Buy Cough Syrup, Why Shouldn't I Need ID to Vote?'
#17I don't know what the fuck makes me more sick: 1) that in the US, an electricity bill is sufficient for voting ID purposes (WTF) or 2) that the US don't have mandatory ID cards. Even our new German ID cards only cost €20 apiece, and if you're too poor you can get benefits. Hello, ID fraud.
An electricity bill /and/ being registered in your district. It is not like you can take an electricity bill to any poll location and vote.
20 Euros might not seem like much but if you are making minimum wage it can be significant. And what if you lose your ID? Or you don't have access to the documentation to get an ID right away? Or you are a college student and your residence is with your parents?
The fact is that voter fraud is not a big problem. Disenfranchising voters, however, is a problem. There are even 2000 page tomes on exactly how to go about it.
That's what makes /me/ sick.
Re: 'If I Need ID to Buy Cough Syrup, Why Shouldn't I Need ID to Vote?'
#18Any electoral fraud that relies on having bunches of people vote multiple times necessarily relies on there being a conspiracy of >100 people in order for it to be effective (this is the only kind of fraud that can be prevented by demanding that voters produce photo ID). But if a conspiracy is required, then why not address that directly? Offer a $500,000 reward and immunity to any one who provides information about…
How does vote fraud necessarily rely on a conspiracy? In many states, knowing someone's name and address is sufficient to vote as that person as long as they've previously registered. Any individual can show up at the polling place multiple times and vote as someone else and it would be very difficult to prove they'd done so.
Re: 'If I Need ID to Buy Cough Syrup, Why Shouldn't I Need ID to Vote?'
#19I don't know what the fuck makes me more sick: 1) that in the US, an electricity bill is sufficient for voting ID purposes (WTF) or 2) that the US don't have mandatory ID cards. Even our new German ID cards only cost €20 apiece, and if you're too poor you can get benefits. Hello, ID fraud.
Some people are a little squeamish about Germany's mandatory ID cards. I don't blame them really, I think we could all do with a better way of preventing electoral fraud without requiring people to hold state-issued IDs.
Re: 'If I Need ID to Buy Cough Syrup, Why Shouldn't I Need ID to Vote?'
#20i'm just going to put this right here: