I was a poll watcher for the election. One two occasions (separated by an hour so likely not related) a voter proclaimed that it was “terrible” or “disgusting” that she was not required to show ID in order to vote.
As a poll watcher I was not allowed to interact with voters, but I would have liked to tell them that if voters had to show valid photo ID, my mother would not have been allowed to vote in at least two elections. When she gave up her car she let her driver license expire. The DMV where she would have had to go to renew the license or get the official State of California ID was far from her home, and for the limited occasions when she needed to present ID her expired license worked.
I wondered when I observed these two voters if this was something some website suggested voters do, or if they came up with it independently.
I took the opposite approach when asked to show an ID for the Primary. I didn’t call it terrible, but I made sure they knew I felt it was important. I wasn’t prompted to do so.
(I sarcastically wonder why your person didn’t defiantly show the ID. Here’s my ID, I’m going to show it to you, AND YOU CAN’T STOP ME!! NO FRAUD HERE NOSIREE!)
When I was asked to show my ID, I mumbled something like “Oh yeah, wouldn’t want to go through the hassle of getting an absentee ballot to commit fraud.” That was the extent of my passive-aggressiveness.
Anny Middon, I share your frustration with people who don’t recognize that many people live sans ID - or at least the kind of ID (photo, non-expired) required to vote in some places.
It’s easy to assume that everyone has ID - we all have ID, right? Have had our whole adult lives. And when we didn’t (lost our wallet, whatever), we went and got a new one. That’s what people do! How’s that so hard? Everybody I know has an ID! What kind of irresponsible citizen doesn’t?
I am not a fan of “check your privilege” as a rhetorical device, but this is a case where I think it applies all too often. No, not everyone drives a car or buys booze or uses credit cards or whatever. If we’re going to make these people jump through hoops to vote, we should at least acknowledge that they exist and have the right to vote, and that we are choosing to disenfranchise them for this excellent reason: [crickets]