While most of what the Republicans are proposing to suppress the vote is very unpopular (even among Republican voters) and most of the Democratic proposals in the For the People Act (H.R. 1/S. 1) are very popular (even among Republican voters), the one voter suppression tool that gets a lot of popular support is requiring voters to have ID.  It is easy to understand why this proposal is popular.  People are used to having to present their ID for a variety of circumstances.  So presenting it to vote does not seem like a big deal to people who have government-issued ID (which is the vast majority of people).  And most people will not look past the initial “common sense” aspect of requiring voters to have ID to look at the real issues.

First, while there are a variety of circumstances for which we have to present ID, the reason for producing ID is different for these situations.  And that determines what needs to be done by the people looking at the ID.  For example, many of us remember our misspent youth when we had to produce IDs at bars and restaurants if we wanted to purchase an intoxicating beverage.  The bar requires us to produce an ID because they are facing potential criminal charges if they sell to a minor.  If they check ID, they can prove that they did not knowingly sell to a minor.  So they are simply checking that the photo matches the person in front of them and that the ID shows that the person is at least 21.  They do not care if you really are John Doe, III, or Leia Smith.  Unless the ID is an obvious forgery, they are fine.

On the other hand, the bank or the car dealership wants to know that the person buying the car or opening an account is really Jane Roe.  They are not merely checking the ID to see that the photo matches the person in front of them; they are also making a copy so that they have a record just in case the ID is a fake. Continue Reading...