# Are voter ID policies (and their supporters) racist? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 15, 2016, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-voter-id-policies-and-their-supporters-racist/772039 "2016-11-15T04:38:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2016, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-voter-id-policies-and-their-supporters-racist/772039/121 "2016-11-16T20:52:04Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > Sorry, but in the post I quoted, he did NOT say “as they are currently written” And if you had read what I wrote, you would see that I said, “And the one following”, where he did in fact clarify exactly what he meant. I don’t know how exactly you found the post in the first place, but it is obvious that you did not get it by looking at the context in which it was made. > [@](#): > > If that is the case, what is the need for this thread? If they have been brought up and explained numerous times, the answer to this thread title is a clear NO. Because ALL voter ID polices (and their supporters) are not racist. I submit Canada as my example. And I submit a policy that allows voters to use their thumbprint as identification is likewise NOT racist, nor are the people racist who support using a thumbprint as an ID. Not all perspectives on the issue have been brought up and discussed. The ones you brought up though, have been. Over and over and over again. My point is, you are not bringing anything new to the table. > [@](#): > > I would suspect that some people may find the Canada style voter ID law a bit to lenient, but maybe I’m wrong. In any event, a more appropriate discussion would be whether or not specific policies were too onerous, instead of, again, PEOPLE WHO WANT VOTER ID ARE RACISTS! Yeah, the people that would find the Canada style voter ID too lenient are the the types of people that we are complaining about. They are the ones that found the voter ID we had too lax, even though there were no cases of in person voter fraud they could point to. So, now that you understand that we are all okay with a canada style voter Id law, or you can pick just about any other ID law from most any other first world nation, and chances are, we’ll be pretty happy with that, you can join in the actual substantive conversation about how these particular laws were implemented, and whether they were done with racial intent (which we suspect), a partisan intent(which they freely admit), or whether it really was for the confidence of the vote. If you have anything to contribute on those subjects, we’d love to hear from you. Rather not have to re-re-re-re-re-rehash old arguments again again again again again. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2016, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-voter-id-policies-and-their-supporters-racist/772039/122 "2016-11-16T20:57:00Z")
> [@Evil\_Economist](#): > > Cite the people who have said that, please. So you would answer the title of this thread with a resounding NO? If not, then you think that people who support voter ID policies are racist. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2016, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-voter-id-policies-and-their-supporters-racist/772039/123 "2016-11-16T21:01:09Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > So you would answer the title of this thread with a resounding NO? > > If not, then you think that people who support voter ID policies are racist. My answer to the thread title, for full description, would be “, Not necessarily, but they can be, if implemented in ways that disproportionately effect minorities.” This is the discussion as to whether or not these voter ID laws disproportionately effect minorities. If you have something substantive to add to this discussion, we would love to hear it. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2016, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-voter-id-policies-and-their-supporters-racist/772039/124 "2016-11-16T21:01:52Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > So, now that you understand that we are all okay with a canada style voter Id law You don’t just get those out of crackerjack boxes; there’s a whole federal agency (and corresponding provincial agencies) administering our election laws. Even then, the system’s not free of bugs and the occasional scandal, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2016, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-voter-id-policies-and-their-supporters-racist/772039/125 "2016-11-16T21:04:59Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > Not all perspectives on the issue have been brought up and discussed. > > The ones you brought up though, have been. Over and over and over again. Really? Implementing Canadian style voter ID policies has been discussed? Where? there are posters in this very thread that think that voters don’t even NEED some form of identification to vote in Canada. Maybe they missed the in-depth discussion on whether or not states could benefit from Canadian style voter ID laws. And I’ve only seen Bricker mention the fingerprint solution, only to be dismissed without a clear discussion on why that is or is not a great solution to those who think a picture ID is too onerous. Nope, he simply gets called a dumb Republican vote-suppressor or implicitly called a racist. > [@](#): > > Yeah, the people that would find the Canada style voter ID too lenient are the the types of people that we are complaining about. Complaining how? By calling them racists? If a person was okay with all the Canadian policies EXCEPT the one that said that using a piece of mail for identification was okay, would THAT person still be a racist? ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2016, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-voter-id-policies-and-their-supporters-racist/772039/126 "2016-11-16T21:05:04Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > You don’t just get those out of crackerjack boxes; there’s a whole federal agency (and corresponding provincial agencies) administering our election laws. > > Even then, the system’s not free of bugs and the occasional scandal, of course. I thought that came with every bottle of maple syrup. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Economist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c89c15/32.png) [@Evil\_Economist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Economist)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2016, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-voter-id-policies-and-their-supporters-racist/772039/127 "2016-11-16T21:06:23Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > So you would answer the title of this thread with a resounding NO? > > If not, then you think that people who support voter ID policies are racist. If you want to know my opinions you can read my posts in this thread. If you have any specific questions about anything I’ve actually said, feel free to ask. Also,the following: > [@](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > In any event, a more appropriate discussion would be whether or not specific policies were too onerous, instead of, again, PEOPLE WHO WANT VOTER ID ARE RACISTS! > > Cite the people who have said that, please. You didn’t give any cites. Is that an admission that no one has actually said that? ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2016, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-voter-id-policies-and-their-supporters-racist/772039/128 "2016-11-16T21:08:03Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > So, either the policies in Canada that require an ID are racist, or there exists voter ID policies that are NOT racist. > > Perhaps everyone in this thread and the Pit thread who are arguing against voter ID policies can read the Canada voter ID policies and then state clearly whether or not a) They support such policies in the US and b) Whether or not they consider those policies racist. No one is saying that any and every form of Voter ID is racist. After all, just registering to vote is a form of ID. No one is saying that Voter registration is racist. However, generally in Canada if you are registered these no issue. if there is a issue, "“Canada permits any voter who lacks one of the allowed forms of photo identification to present two of forty-five other forms of identification or documentation that have the voter’s name and address on at least one. Acceptable documents include leases, student transcripts, and utility bills.” In other words, a piece of mail. Those are free and come in (drumroll please…) \*the mail. \* As opposed to a picture state ID, which requires a Birth certificate. Which cost money and a great deal of time and effort. In at least one state, as noted earlier in this thread, the State calculated what form of Voter ID was most likely to exclude blacks. In general Voter ID in the USA is racist. If not racist, it is calculated to exclude one arty (always the Democrats) over another. ---
**Author:** ![slash2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@slash2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slash2k)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2016, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-voter-id-policies-and-their-supporters-racist/772039/129 "2016-11-16T21:09:46Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > A refusal to file Form RCD (Request for Consideration of U.S. Citizenship Documents by State Election Board of Kansas). Filing that form does not guarantee that the board will consider the application in a timely manner, much less give a favorable result in time to vote. > [@Bricker](#): > > None. As a Californian, she has multiple options as described in the link, and can vote during the intervening time. She can vote IN CALIFORNIA, because California doesn’t have voter ID laws like what we have here in Kansas. If she moved here, no, she could NOT vote until she pursued one of these time-consuming options and saw it through to completion. If there’s an election in the intervening time while she is working on one of the options, too bad, so sad, no ballot for her. How is that not disenfranchisement? > [@Bricker](#): > > It’s not true that their decision is arbitrary; that would be an abuse of discretion and challenged in court. And since there is potential for abuse in each and every voting scheme in the nation, it’s not relevant to complain that there is potential for abuse here. Do you have any instances of actual abuse? They’ve only given (public) consideration to five applications in the couple of years they’ve been in operation, and have declined to reveal how many applications were received and not given public consideration. In most of the U.S., most election officials are at least officially non-partisan, and operate in accordance with published rules and regulations. The Kansas Election Board, composed solely of elected officials, has no reaisticl limit on what they can or should consider, or what they can decline to consider, so the potential for abuse is rather higher. As far as “abuse of discretion and challenged in court,” do you consider bringing a court challenge to be easy, cheap, and fast for somebody in a marginalized population? (Realistically, any court challenge requires a lawyer or three. I don’t know how many public-interest law firms and organizations exist in Virginia, but the options are few and far between in Kansas, and even getting your case before the ACLU can be challenging.) > [@Bricker](#): > > I have answered this question quite a few times: to ensure confidence in the results of an ultra-close election. Here we have a guy who made a specific effort to validate his identity. That’s all that’s needed. If he turns out to be an alien, of a felon, he can’t claim that it wasn’t him trying to register to vote; too many people remember how he could recite the bith dates of his parents. > > And notice how you shift gears: you hint that the Board will capriciously refuse to act, and then complain when they act on very simple evidence. > > But that’s the point: simple evidence should be fine in that context. And it was. I think you are missing the point: if simple evidence is so “fine,” then why make the guy jump through hoops? Why can’t he give this evidence to his county election commissioner, for example, or write it down on his voter registration application, instead of going through a time-consuming process? (All five applicants to date, e.g., have been asked to testify in person in Topeka. If you can’t travel easily, then what? Sure, you can ask for additional special arrangements, but whether to grant them is entirely in the discretion of the board.) Moreover, capriciousness need not be just refusal to act. “You look like you’re likely to vote Republican, so we’re satisfied with your bare recital of facts, but this person over here belongs to a demographic that typically votes for liberals, so their bare recital isn’t so satisfying.” Right now, the only standard to obtain the franchise via the form is “do Kris Kobach, Derek Schmidt, and Jeff Colyer feel satisified?”–Kobach, e.g., is the former chair of the Republican Party of Kansas and has a well-deserved reputation for hyper-partisanship. Would it make _you_ more confident of the outcome of a close election to know that a would-be voter’s franchise rests in the hands of a man who has a vested interest in the success of one of the parties? (Kobach does get his hand slapped by federal and state courts alike with some regularity over his handling of elections and voter registration, to no apparent effect.) > [@Bricker](#): > > No… but there was a reason that their feelings of confidence did not carry the day. There feelings of confidence carried the presumption of local law, to be sure, but local law must give way to the federal constitution. And the way we determine who wins that argument is the courts. The courts decided that the voting schemes of that time were violative of the Fourteenth Amendment. And so the will of the people prevailed there too: the supermajority of states that adopted the Constititution spoke to, and settled, the issue. Their feelings of confidence carried the day for decades and generations, did they not? Even GETTING cases into the federal courts was not some fast, cheap, and easy process. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2016, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-voter-id-policies-and-their-supporters-racist/772039/130 "2016-11-16T21:12:23Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > My answer to the thread title, for full description, would be “, Not necessarily, but they can be, if implemented in ways that disproportionately effect minorities.” That’s a great non-answer. One that can be given to almost any question: “Are policies that give free food to poor people racist?” - “Not necessarily, but they can be, if implemented in ways that disproportionately effect minorities” “Are policies that make subways and busses free to all racist?” - “Not necessarily, but they can be, if implemented in ways that disproportionately effect minorities” Not to mention the implicit declaration in your non-answer that only if a policy disproportionately effects minorities can it be racist. For instance “White people are not allowed to vote” would be a policy that is clearly racist, except according to your definition of a racist policy, it doesn’t disproportionately effect a minority, so it’s not a racist policy. And more seriously, how do you feel about all states implementing a fingerprint identification system for voting? Would you be against that? ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2016, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-voter-id-policies-and-their-supporters-racist/772039/131 "2016-11-16T21:13:28Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > So you would answer the title of this thread with a resounding NO? A Thread _title_ is, of necessity, simplistic. The actual OP is some fifty times longer. Do read the actual Op, rather than focusing on just the few words in the title. Read \*\*k9bfriender \*\*excellent post above yours for the answer. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2016, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-voter-id-policies-and-their-supporters-racist/772039/132 "2016-11-16T21:17:30Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > I thought that came with every bottle of maple syrup. No… it’s a serious matter that requires a permanent governmental commitment free from petty manipulations of short-sighted elected officials. As best I can tell, the U.S. has _some_ federal commitment to ensuring voter rights nationwide, specifically the Voting Rights Act of 1965, but this was significantly weakened by _Shelby County v. Holder_ and there’s little interest (that I know of) to rebuild it. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2016, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-voter-id-policies-and-their-supporters-racist/772039/133 "2016-11-16T21:21:32Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > No one is saying that any and every form of Voter ID is racist. After all, just registering to vote is a form of ID. No one is saying that Voter registration is racist. > > However, generally in Canada if you are registered these no issue. if there is a issue, "“Canada permits any voter who lacks one of the allowed forms of photo identification to present two of forty-five other forms of identification or documentation that have the voter’s name and address on at least one. Acceptable documents include leases, student transcripts, and utility bills.” > > In other words, a piece of mail. Those are free and come in (drumroll please…) \*the mail. > \* > > As opposed to a picture state ID, which requires a Birth certificate. Which cost money and a great deal of time and effort. > > In at least one state, as noted earlier in this thread, the State calculated what form of Voter ID was most likely to exclude blacks. > > In general Voter ID in the USA is racist. If not racist, it is calculated to exclude one arty (always the Democrats) over another. Homeless people don’t get mail, how can they vote? 😉 The main argument seems to be that which you mentioned - “Birth certificates cost money and a great deal of time and effort” But, BIG SURPRISE, not everybody thinks that they DO cost a great deal of money, time, or effort. And guess what happens to those who DON’T think it is a great deal of money, time, or effort? Yep, they get called GIANT REPUBLICAN VOTE-SUPRESSING MONSTERS!! It seems like there are a couple of threads calling for people to stop doing this. How do YOU feel about using a fingerprint for identification in each state before voting? ---
**Author:** ![coffeecat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coffeecat/32/3405_2.png) [@coffeecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coffeecat)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2016, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-voter-id-policies-and-their-supporters-racist/772039/134 "2016-11-16T21:22:06Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > Sorry, but in the post I quoted, he did NOT say “as they are currently written” > > If that is the case, what is the need for this thread? If they have been brought up and explained numerous times, the answer to this thread title is a clear NO. Because ALL voter ID polices (and their supporters) are not racist. I submit Canada as my example. And I submit a policy that allows voters to use their thumbprint as identification is likewise NOT racist, nor are the people racist who support using a thumbprint as an ID. > > I would suspect that some people may find the Canada style voter ID law a bit to lenient, but maybe I’m wrong. In any event, a more appropriate discussion would be whether or not specific policies were too onerous, instead of, again, PEOPLE WHO WANT VOTER ID ARE RACISTS! Sent from my SM-G900T using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2016, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-voter-id-policies-and-their-supporters-racist/772039/135 "2016-11-16T21:22:56Z")
> [@slash2k](#): > > deal in largish financial transactions Depositing cash at Chase requires ID as does opening an account at a B&M. > [@slash2k](#): > > Not everybody lives a nice safe conventional middle-class existence. There are a surprisingly high number of people who have never been out of their state of birth, never mind flying off to Cabo for the weekend. If they don’t smoke or drink (or are old enough not to get carded), don’t own a car, get most of their medical care from the free clinic, don’t have a bank account but cash any checks at the high-fee/no-ID-required check cashing establishments, and so forth, what EXACTLY do they need this ID for, other than voting? > Now realize that nine million American households, as of 2015, did not have a household member who possessed a checking or savings account. That’s 15 million adults who will never show their ID at the bank, because they don’t have a bank. ([cite](https://www.fdic.gov/householdsurvey/2015/2015execsumm.pdf)) As of 2003, nearly one in five American adults had never flown on an airplane in their life, never mind recently enough that their ID from that trip was still valid. ([cite](http://www.rita.dot.gov/bts/sites/rita.dot.gov.bts/files/publications/omnistats/volume_03_issue_03/pdf/entire.pdf)) Do they not have ID because they don’t do those thing or is it that they don’t do these things because they don’t have ID? > [@slash2k](#): > > Possession of a driver’s licenses is on the decline, and for younger adults (aged 16 to 44), has been decreasing for three decades. ([cite](http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2016/01/the-decline-of-the-drivers-license/425169/)) But do they have state ID cards instead? ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Economist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c89c15/32.png) [@Evil\_Economist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Economist)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2016, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-voter-id-policies-and-their-supporters-racist/772039/136 "2016-11-16T21:25:14Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > Yep, they get called GIANT REPUBLICAN VOTE-SUPRESSING MONSTERS!! It seems like there are a couple of threads calling for people to stop doing this. The people passing the laws are generally Republicans, and the laws were crafted with the express and stated purpose of reducing Democratic voting. They do this by generally targeting minorities. Have you actually read any of the NC court transcripts? By the way, let me point out that the only person posting outrageous stuff in all caps in this thread is you. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2016, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-voter-id-policies-and-their-supporters-racist/772039/137 "2016-11-16T21:25:49Z")
> [@Evil\_Economist](#): > > How about naming a single law that we’ve actually discussed that someone in the thread has actually opposed that doesn’t require a picture ID. Would you support a law requiring a fingerprint be used for identification in each state before voting? ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2016, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-voter-id-policies-and-their-supporters-racist/772039/138 "2016-11-16T21:27:09Z")
> [@Evil\_Economist](#): > > The people passing the laws are generally Republicans, and the laws were crafted with the express and stated purpose of reducing Democratic voting. They do this by generally targeting minorities. Have you actually read any of the NC court transcripts? > > By the way, let me point out that the only person posting outrageous stuff in all caps in this thread is you. I am talking about people on this message board that do not agree with you on the hardship of getting a birth certificate or a picture ID (I had to put that in all caps because it looked weird in lower case) ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2016, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-voter-id-policies-and-their-supporters-racist/772039/139 "2016-11-16T21:28:04Z")
> [@iamthewalrus\_3](#): > > This is a continuation of a discussion about voter ID laws, and whether the supporters of them are racist (determined to be a hijack over in [A plea to Trump supporters](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=810087&page=3)). > > I think it’s an interesting discussion, so I wanted to continue it. > > You should probably read the thread, but I’ll start with these quotes, which I think gets us mostly up to speed on the discussion in progress > > It is totally possible to support these laws for non-racist reasons. I think most of those reasons boil down to ignorance, though. > > I will state that I think that most Republican and Democrats who support such policies are simply ignorant of the impact of the policies. It requires some fairly in-depth understanding to know both that voter ID policies tend to have racially biased outcomes _and_ that the problem they seek to address is essentially non-existent. > > I’ve had several conversations with friends and acquaintances about this, who initially were in favor of voter ID laws (at first glance, they seem like an obviously reasonable step to keep people who shouldn’t be allowed to vote from doing so) and after hearing about the problems with them were… let’s say, much more circumspect. > > I think an analogy to literacy tests is apt. Sure, we should all hope that you have a basic level of literacy in order to cast a vote. But the actual implementation of such a barrier to voting was so problematic that advocating such a thing nowadays should rightly be seen as racist. We should all know better at this point. > > I also think that the representatives implementing these laws should rightly be seen as racist in almost all cases. They know _exactly_ what they’re doing. And, no, disenfranchising largely poor black voters _because they primarily vote for the opposition party_ should not provide any cover for the charge of racism. > > So, if you’re on a political message board arguing about this, you should know better. You can’t claim to be unaware of the racially biased results, or of the fact that the stated goals of the law are specious. > > I will assume **Bricker’s** claim that Indiana’s law is done the right way for the sake of argument, but I think he is _at best_ incredibly naive to think that these policies won’t generally be perverted by racist outcome _and_ intent. North Carolina’s example shows us all we need to know on that front. Unfortunately, future legislators purposefully implementing racist policies will probably cover their tracks better. Not everyone who supports a voter ID law is racist. But almost everyone who is a racist probably supports voter ID laws. Almost everyone who supports a voter ID law knows that it is probably being used for racist purposes. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2016, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-voter-id-policies-and-their-supporters-racist/772039/140 "2016-11-16T21:31:00Z")
> [@Damuri\_Ajashi](#): > > Not everyone who supports a voter ID law is racist. But almost everyone who is a racist probably supports voter ID laws. Almost everyone who supports a voter ID law knows that it is probably being used for racist purposes. How do you feel about using a fingerprint as identification before voting in each state? Any way in which a policy such as that could be racist? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-voter-id-policies-and-their-supporters-racist/772039.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-voter-id-policies-and-their-supporters-racist/772039.md?page=8)