[Forgeties79]

So every EU nation uses an EU-issued ID to vote? Or does each country, most of which are comparable to US states in size/population, have its own identification?

To be clear: I am not against a national ID for voting. In fact, I think the best compromise is that the federal government should issue a free identification card to every US citizen, which can be replaced once (maybe twice) a year with no fee, that every state then recognizes (in addition to current identification forms) as a legitimate form of identification for voting. That sounds like a great idea to me as it could even help voters and imposes no fees to vote, but I can also tell you that it’s nothing like what the Republicans are proposing, even though it makes total sense.

It’s pointless expense if you ask me. But if you believe voter fraud is a real problem then this seems like a reasonable solution.

[u_sama]

Brazil and China, which are as big as the USA in land (both) and population (China) have IDs as well. All IDs are issues by the nation-state but usable in other EU countries.

I mean yeah, not free but a minimal fee like 20$ or something, doable in an easy place., the problem is not really the ability or will, but political polarization that makes even reasonable propositions become weaponized.

It's not a pointless expense if it is integrated into other systems like healthcare, driving licence, and for example, online identification to do taxes and such. You cannot meaningfully digitalize bureaucracy without standard IDs.

[Forgeties79]

Why should it cost anything?

It should be free and easy to acquire. No fee, no DMV nonsense. There is no reason to charge. Trump’s ridiculous crusade to “prove” voter fraud cost US taxpayers half a billion dollars directly. We could’ve easily given every person voting age an ID card with that money.

You have to bear in mind that voting is opt-in here and you are already required to show ID to register to vote. On top of that, even states that don’t require an ID each time to cast your vote do require it the first time you vote. So nobody in the US can 1) register and then 2) vote without identification in any state, despite the republicans’ often misleading (through being incomplete) claim that you can vote without an ID. There are 3 barriers: not able to me vote by default, 2 times proving identification with a legal ID, and an ID every time you vote in 38/50 states. That is plenty to stop voter fraud, as clearly evidenced by the handful we see per election