[subharmonicon]

You don't seem to be considering a variety of important factors here:

- Unhoused individuals who have the right to vote are unable to afford to pay for ID

- Contrary to what you're saying, in some places it's multiple hours drive to find a DMV that's open on a weekend (which might be required for someone working a 9-5 job)

- Even if you can go on a weekday, in some places you have to go across multiple counties to get to a DMV. If you don't have a car and need to take a bus, that can mean spending most of the day on the bus to get to the DMV, which may mean you cannot get back home the same day. This is a reality for some people, and those people won't necessarily be able to rely on a friend to drive them (see the above about people working 9-5), and don't have money to spend on a Taxi/Uber/Lyft.

- Some people lack documentation required to get a state ID or driver's license. This can happen for a variety of reasons, but previous homelessness is one. It can be expensive and time consuming to fix that issue in some cases.

Thus far I've not seen any politician pushing for strict voter ID laws also willing to fund ensuring that everyone who is entitled to vote is provided with a proper ID if needed, and until that changes you're going to see people pushing back on those laws.

[chrisco255]

> Unhoused individuals who have the right to vote are unable to afford to pay for ID

It sounds like you should be arguing for free IDs for the homeless. That being said, I spent $12 on my most recent visit to the DMV to get a new license. It is not an expensive endeavor. This is not an argument against voter ids.

> Contrary to what you're saying, in some places it's multiple hours drive to find a DMV that's open on a weekend (which might be required for someone working a 9-5 job)

You can go to the DMV on your lunch break. You can also let your employer know you need a new id and they will let you go. People regularly take brief moments and breaks off work to tend to chores, children, doctor appointments, etc. This is a really bad argument.

Actually, to even be legally employed with a e-verify, you need an ID to prove your status.

Again, a poor argument.

> Some people lack documentation required to get a state ID or driver's license. This can happen for a variety of reasons, but previous homelessness is one. It can be expensive and time consuming to fix that issue in some cases.

There are programs to assist the homeless with this very thing. The homeless are < 0.1% of the population. It's great to be thinking about them. Programs should exist. But you can't possibly argue that such exceptions are an argument against voter id. The opportunity for abuse and manipulation in the absence of id is too great. Everyone is disenfranchised when voting rules are lax and ID is not verified.

[subharmonicon]

> It sounds like you should be arguing for free IDs for the homeless.

I'd absolutely be in support of that, and not just the homeless.

People have proposed this in the past, and somehow some politicians don't want to pay for it.

> That being said, I spent $12 on my most recent visit to the DMV to get a new license. It is not an expensive endeavor.

Do you understand how many people have to choose between food or medical care each month, and barely make rent? You might not think $12 plus the cost of transportation, plus potentially unpaid time off work, costs much, but it's a lot to some people.

> You can go to the DMV on your lunch break.

Again, not everyone is 10 minutes from a DMV. In some parts of the country you're not going to find a DMV in the same county. Many people have 30-60 minute lunch breaks with no flexibility. Many people have no paid vacation days.

There's a reason that courts have regularly thrown out voter ID laws, and it's because they disproportionately disenfranchise the poor.

> There are programs to assist the homeless with this very thing. The homeless are < 0.1% of the population. It's great to be thinking about them. Programs should exist. But you can't possibly argue that such exceptions are an argument against voter id.

It's not just homeless. It's also the poor.

And it turns out the courts have continuously tossed voter ID laws because of the disproportionate effect on those communities. So whether you think it's a good argument or not, federal courts across the country do.

> Everyone is disenfranchised when voting rules are lax and ID is not verified.

I'm not sure where you're getting your information from, but time and time again people claiming widespread voter fraud have been unable to find actual evidence of it. Multiple Republican governors over the years have put together committees to find the evidence, and although they usually find a handful of cases of people voting illegally, these are sometimes people who didn't realize they couldn't vote (e.g. convicted felons who have not gone through their state's process to regain voting rights), or people who vote someone else's ballot (frequently a recently deceased parent). A dozen people (voting for both parties, BTW, not one or the other) voting illegally should have their votes removed from the tallies, but disenfranchising millions of poor people should not be the cost of doing that.

To paraphrase you, "This is not an argument for voter IDs."