[ethanbond]

How about this: if Republicans were pushing voter ID laws plus a comprehensive plan to get IDs to every American who wishes to vote, I suspect no one would have any problem with such a proposal.

As it stands now, there are large groups of Americans for whom getting a photo ID is a non-trivial task. People without birth records, people who can’t take time off work to go to the DMV, people who don’t know that they go to the DMV to get an ID, people who live hours from the nearest DMV, so on and so forth.

Let’s make sure they all get a chance to vote. Any proposal that aims to do that, I believe, would not have the support of the Republican Party, because the Republican Party is uninterested in increasing voter turnout.

[andrekandre]

> Finally you simply throw ballots from the disfavored precincts directly in the trash.

cant this be done, arguably even easier with mail-in voting?

[sangnoir]

Provisional ballots avail a lot more leeway for election officials to legally discard ballots compared to mail-in ballots. Its not legally easier to do so with mail-in ballots

[_-david-_]

I don't think the person you were responsing to was suggesting mail in ballots are legally easier to disgard but easier to illegally discard.

[sangnoir]

I was making the distinction explicit. Illegally discarding ballots is...dicey - all it takes would be a journalist submitting a FOI request to the USPS and comparing the tally against counted votes

[andrekandre]

yes, thank you, exactly what i meant

[_-david-_]

Just to be clear I am in favor of providing free IDs and allowing the use of said ID, a driver's license, passport, etc for voting.

You say that no one would have an issue with such a proposal but then list the argument I have heard from multiple people of why this won't work.

How is someone supposed to get an id without going to the DMV or some other government office? The government doesn't have a picture of everyone so people would be required to go into an office to get one. Some people are unable to go in due to the reasons you list.

[chrisseaton]

In the US why is identity linked to driving - why does the DMV do it? What do people who can’t drive due for proof of identity?