More importantly, if you don't have a current valid ID, you need to jump through incredible hoops to get it. You need proof of residence. What if you're living with a relative because times are hard? Two utility bills in your name, which can be hard to do with shitty credit. Then a birth certificate. Again, might be cost prohibitive, or it can be time consuming to get it. You may have lost it in a move - again, affects low income families more. And the list goes on.
Getting that type of shit when you're only 18 is ridiculous. Hell, I needed two pieces of mail just to get a library card.
What pisses me off is that we can't just use our voter registration cards. Also, why can we only register to vote at the DMV? My local polling place is the public library. Why can't I register to vote there? When I want to vote early, I go to the Board of Elections. Why can't I register to vote there? I hate the DMV. It's full of unhappy impatient people like me.
I went to the Social Security office recently to get a new card. I could have done it online, but sometimes physical proceedings make me feel more confident that the job is getting done. Just to fill out the form and get someone to accept my form took two and a half hours. I can't imagine what it might have been like if I came in not knowing what documents I might need. Then I waited two weeks to get my card. These things take time and knowledge that some people don't have.
You are making a lot of assumptions and moral judgments. You would be surprised by how successful people are at getting by without an ID. Many low wage employers are willing to hire people without IDs. Usually people without ID are in a bad spot financially, so renting is out of the question anyway. Family and friends don’t require ID to let you stay with them. They can also cash checks for you.
Second, as has been pointed out, getting an ID after a long period without one involved a lot of hoop jumping. How much time do you think someone working 60+ hours a week has to stand in line at a government agency during business hours? Do you think they have time to go to the library during business hours to fill out online paperwork?
While you haven’t directly said it, your comments make it clear that you feel morally superior because you were able to jump through the hoops and that people who don’t just don’t want it bad enough. Your experiences in life aren’t universal, and some people spend every waking moment trying to survive. They deserve just as much say in our democracy as everyone else, especially because they are so vulnerable to heartless and careless legislation.
THIS. Does it fucking matter if you need an ID to do five million other things or that you have many other things to worry about in your life? No, voting is a constitutional right. End stop.
The fact of the matter is 1) voter ID laws have been shown to disenfranchise vulnerable populations 2) widespread voter fraud has never actually been found and 3) VOTING IS A CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT AND LITERALLY A TENET OUR COUNTRY WAS FOUNDED ON.
All you need for a job is a social security number. I definitely don't carry my card around, but when applying for a job, I just write down the number.
It took my roommate six months to get his updated (21+) drivers license, the old one was no good, the new one got mailed to the wrong adress, and his parents couldn't find his birth cirtificat. No bills in his name and we'd just moved to a new spot so proof of address took forever.
A lot of women have issues because when they get married, their last name no longer matches their birth certificate. And then you realize there are cases not that long ago where people gave birth at home and the regulations on recording those births were lax: example
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u/my_pol_acct Dec 13 '17
More importantly, if you don't have a current valid ID, you need to jump through incredible hoops to get it. You need proof of residence. What if you're living with a relative because times are hard? Two utility bills in your name, which can be hard to do with shitty credit. Then a birth certificate. Again, might be cost prohibitive, or it can be time consuming to get it. You may have lost it in a move - again, affects low income families more. And the list goes on.