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code_chimp | 6 years ago

Source? In the US I need a valid ID to cash a check, pick up a benefit check, apply for government benefits, buy cold medication, board an airplane, open a bank account, etc. This is a short list off of the top of my head. Are all of these activities disenfranchising me?

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banannaise|6 years ago

You're not the one being disenfranchised.

> cash a check

You can sign it over to someone else and have them cash it. Also many employers (especially in poor areas) offer paychecks on a prepaid card. No check necessary.

> apply for government benefits

You can often do this with lesser IDs such as a birth certificate or school ID, which are often not accepted at the polls.

> buy cold medication

Poor people don't buy much cold medication.

> board an airplane

Poor people don't board many airplanes.

> open a bank account

Poor people are notoriously underbanked, and often don't trust banks anyway (especially since banks have a bad habit of targeting the poorest customers with the highest fees).

habnds|6 years ago

why should I need to be able to drive to vote? Or go through the rigamarole of getting a passport?

ID in the us is a huge pita. There no reason to require it for voting anyway, fraud isn't a real problem. it's just a good way to prevent poor people from voting.

Faark|6 years ago

IDs are not a problem in principle. But there is barely any voter fraud at all (see Trumps commission), thus no real reason to enact law. Why do politicians non the less spend their political capital doing so? Often their new rules just so happen to help the people voting for them and hinder their opponents. North Carolina [0] was one of the more egregious cases.

[0] https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/15/us/politics/voter-id-laws...