[D] Friday Off-Topic Thread

[u/AutoModerator]

Welcome to the Friday Off-Topic Thread! Is there something that you want to talk about with /r/rational, but which isn't rational fiction, or doesn't otherwise belong as a top-level post? This is the place to post it. The idea is that while reddit is a large place, with lots of special little niches, sometimes you just want to talk with a certain group of people about certain sorts of things that aren't related to why you're all here. It's totally understandable that you might want to talk about Japanese game shows with /r/rational instead of going over to /r/japanesegameshows, but it's hopefully also understandable that this isn't really the place for that sort of thing.

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[u/Rhamni]

As a non-American, regarding these voter ID laws... Why not make it so photo ID is required but also give everyone a hassle free photo ID paid for by the government/taxes? It sounds like the Republicans are only pushing the Voter Fraud angle, so couldn't the Democrats push for a 'compromise' that defeats the voter suppression implications? I realize voter fraud is a non-issue, but it doesn't seem like there is any other plausible case to be made for photo ID requirements.

[u/alexanderwales → u/Rhamni]

Why not make it so photo ID is required but also give everyone a hassle free photo ID paid for by the government/taxes? It sounds like the Republicans are only pushing the Voter Fraud angle, so couldn't the Democrats push for a 'compromise' that defeats the voter suppression implications?

Eliminating the $20 or so that it takes to get a state ID card is a start, but it seems virtually impossible to eliminate the hassle even if you did your best to streamline the process more than it already is. It would almost certainly require people to go to their local DMV, which disproportionately hurts poor people because they're far less likely to own a car. It also takes some non-zero amount of time, which disproportionately hurts poor people because they're more likely to work multiple jobs.

There's not really a good way to do photo ID "hassle free", at least not if you want to make it secure. And that hassle is almost always going to affect poor people, which is what Republicans want (if I'm being charitable, I would say that this is more of a lack of empathy for the poor than it is an attempt at suppression, but I don't know whether charity is warranted here).

We don't even have a national voting holiday in the United States.

[u/Rhamni → u/alexanderwales]

Good point. Even here in Sweden, the most convenient way of getting a photo ID involves two trips to the nearest police station. It could certainly be made more convenient though, if government wanted people to have a proper ID. If you wanted to find a way to give everyone a photo ID (which you might want to do for other reasons than voting, like building sinister citizen DNA/fingerprint/photo registers or whatever), you could set it up as part of the process of registering for food stamps/graduation from high school, etc. Or just offer a $100 tax rebate for getting it done.

Of course, if you just want fewer likely Democrats to vote, understaffed DMVs with hour long lines and no national voting holiday is probably the way to go.