Why shouldn't people have to show government issued ID to vote?

I don't have a problem with that.

But you don't try to put these laws in place a few months before a major election and then have politicians on the other side patting themselves on the back for requiring IDs as some sort of political tactic to help your candidate win.

I checked out the "Voter ID Laws" that 8 states passed last year. The problems that I saw were these 1) They were almost identical word for word. That means someone besides the lawmakers wrote the laws. 2) Everyone of them made invalid for voting Federal and State ID cards that are issued to Disabled and Retired Veterans (Military ID, invalid because they are "Permanent", State issued permanent ID cards, invalid because they are "Permanent", VA Patient ID cards, invalid because they are "Permanent") That means the laws targeted Disabled and Retired Veterans. 3) The laws were set to required new ID cards to be issued by each state with not near enough time to implement and issue those cards before the elections.

And these are ONLY the issues that affect me, I know there are other issues that need to be addressed in them!

One has to wonder why, following Obama's re-election, the call for ID-to-vote has significantly decreased. If it was such a great idea, wouldn't NOW be the perfect time to get it made law? But, no, those that supported it have given up on it.

The short answer to your question is that requiring ID doesn't actually solve voter fraud problems. And there are big downsides.

That said, I'm technically not against requiring ID, as long as every legal voter can acquire said ID.

Hi

The more important question is "why should people have to show governmrent issued ID to vote" since the incedence of the sort of fraud it would prevent is almost non existent. The reason they shouldn't have to is that it is a restriction that would impact some populations more than others and the laws that have been proposed have been pretty specific in their application...allowing some forms of government ID while not allowing others. Simple answer. The more people that are enfranchised to vote, the more direct the democracy.

Well there are a few reasons.

First, voting is a right. You can't put a lot of hurdles in front of a right. And I don't know about where you live but just getting and ID in California (SF Bay Area) is a pain in the ***. The lines at the DMV are insanely long PLUS you have to pay for the I.D. Therefore you would be requiring someone to PAY for something before they can vote.

Second, just having ID doesn't prove you're a citizen. Aliens can have ID too.

And third, voter fraud just isn't a big problem in the United States. If would be a lot of effort for little gain.

It's not illegal to so if it's asked, you have to deal with it.

Birth - "All persons born or naturalized" "are citizens" of the U.S. and the U.S. State where they reside (14th Amendment, 1868)

"Race, color, or previous condition of servitude" - (15th Amendment, 1870)

"On account of sex" - (19th Amendment, 1920)

In Washington, D.C., presidential elections (23rd Amendment, 1961)

(For federal elections) "By reason of failure to pay any poll tax or other tax" - (24th Amendment, 1964)

(For state elections) Taxes - (Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections, 383 U.S. 663 (1966))

"Who are eighteen years of age or older, to vote, shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of age" (26th Amendment, 1971).

In addition, the 17th Amendment provided for the direct election of United States Senators.

The "right to vote" is not explicitly stated in the U.S. Constitution except in the above referenced amendments, and only in reference to the fact that the franchise cannot be denied or abridged based solely on the aforementioned qualifications. In other words, the "right to vote" is perhaps better understood, in layman's terms, as only prohibiting certain forms of legal discrimination in establishing qualifications for suffrage. States may deny the "right to vote" for other reasons.

you don't have the right to do temporary work at a warehouse. you do have the right to vote. what part confused you?

The showing of an ID is a Trojan Horse to keep the lower classes from the polls, since most will vote Democratic.

Requiring ID to vote in the USA is a solution in search of a problem. It would waste time and not accomplish any reasonable goal.