# Voter ID law with 9+ year's notice in advance **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [October 21, 2014, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voter-id-law-with-9-years-notice-in-advance/702066 "2014-10-21T19:41:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2014, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voter-id-law-with-9-years-notice-in-advance/702066/1 "2014-10-21T19:41:09Z")
Question for those who oppose laws requiring voters to produce ID to vote: The usual protests are “Inconvenience, cost, transportation.” And if very little time were given as notice in advance, such a requirements may not be possible for some voters to meet. But if there were many years of notice in advance before the election, would that not take care of many of the concerns? Say the law was passed in 2015 but doesn’t take effect until the 2024 presidential elections. In \*\*nine year’s time, \*\*is there really any voter in America who could not get the time or money or transportation to get a photo ID? ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2014, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voter-id-law-with-9-years-notice-in-advance/702066/2 "2014-10-21T19:46:04Z")
Oh FFS, this again? Just for starters I will give 2 simple examples: [ul] [li]Elderly person with no birth certificate available. Bad record keeping back when they were born at home in a rural backwood area. No birth certificate - no ID![/li]My sister is a bedridden paraplegic, she ain’t going anywhere. And under the current system, no one is going to come to her.[/ul] ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2014, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voter-id-law-with-9-years-notice-in-advance/702066/3 "2014-10-21T19:49:56Z")
Are you also going to explain the benefits of the law, how it strengthens democracy more than any disenfranchisement weakens it? ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2014, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voter-id-law-with-9-years-notice-in-advance/702066/4 "2014-10-21T19:52:17Z")
[quote=“Icarus, post:2, topic:702066”] [li]My sister is a bedridden paraplegic, she ain’t going anywhere. And under the current system, no one is going to come to her.[/LIST][/li][/QUOTE] How does a bedridden paraplegic vote? I’m not saying this in any offensive way. I’m just asking how she votes, because without voting, the voter ID law doesn’t affect her. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2014, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voter-id-law-with-9-years-notice-in-advance/702066/5 "2014-10-21T19:53:38Z")
Killing a housefly with a cluster bomb won’t become a better idea nine years from now. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2014, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voter-id-law-with-9-years-notice-in-advance/702066/6 "2014-10-21T19:53:52Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Are you also going to explain the benefits of the law, how it strengthens democracy more than any disenfranchisement weakens it? No, there are threads about that already. This is a practical-question thread - whether voters could get an ID if given many year’s notice. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2014, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voter-id-law-with-9-years-notice-in-advance/702066/7 "2014-10-21T19:54:22Z")
You’ve never heard about absentee ballots? Really? ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2014, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voter-id-law-with-9-years-notice-in-advance/702066/8 "2014-10-21T19:56:02Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > No, there are threads about that already. Where you also have ducked the question. > [@](#): > > This is a practical-question thread - whether voters could get an ID if given many year’s notice. It would take more than that regardless of the time frame, wouldn’t it? Like a government wanting to help them do so, not hinder them. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2014, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voter-id-law-with-9-years-notice-in-advance/702066/9 "2014-10-21T20:04:10Z")
9 years is a long window of time in which to go to a governmental office to have such matters taken care of. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2014, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voter-id-law-with-9-years-notice-in-advance/702066/10 "2014-10-21T20:05:47Z")
It’s easy enough to vote absentee, then. You really need to look into that. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2014, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voter-id-law-with-9-years-notice-in-advance/702066/11 "2014-10-21T20:07:06Z")
How about a literacy test? I mean, anybody should be able to learn to read in nine years. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2014, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voter-id-law-with-9-years-notice-in-advance/702066/12 "2014-10-21T20:08:52Z")
It has not yet been demonstrated to my satisfaction that the voter ID laws aren’t a solution in search of a problem. Until that’s adequately addressed, I’m not interested in arguing about timelines for laws that have no business existing. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2014, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voter-id-law-with-9-years-notice-in-advance/702066/13 "2014-10-21T20:10:53Z")
Oh, the problem being addressed is very well understood. It just isn’t the one claimed. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2014, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voter-id-law-with-9-years-notice-in-advance/702066/14 "2014-10-21T20:25:28Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > 9 years is a long window of time in which to go to a governmental office to have such matters taken care of. Not if you’re a bedridden paraplegic. Or an elderly person with no birth certificate. ---
**Author:** ![CJJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecc23a/32.png) [@CJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CJJ)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2014, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voter-id-law-with-9-years-notice-in-advance/702066/15 "2014-10-21T20:57:52Z")
Does this future law resemble the [SB 14 law in Texas](http://www.nationalmemo.com/texas-voter-id-law-rejects-student-ids-accepts-gun-permits/), which rejects Social Security, Medicaid, and student ID cards as valid forms of voter ID, but accepts concealed handgun permits? If so, I can’t support it no matter what the timing. And I suspect just about any implementation of such a law will be tuned to favor whatever party is calling for it. That’s it’s real purpose: To disenfranchise the opposition. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2014, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voter-id-law-with-9-years-notice-in-advance/702066/16 "2014-10-21T20:57:56Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Not if you’re a bedridden paraplegic. Or an elderly person with no birth certificate. Or, generally speaking, any Democrat or Dem-leaning voter who’s been marginalized by Republican policies into a position where disenfranchisement is one deftly-phrased and unnecessary law away. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2014, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voter-id-law-with-9-years-notice-in-advance/702066/17 "2014-10-21T21:02:19Z")
The waiting time is irrelevant - any voter ID requirement is inherently a form of poll tax and therefore prohibited by the 24th Amendment. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2014, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voter-id-law-with-9-years-notice-in-advance/702066/18 "2014-10-21T21:07:19Z")
It’s a meaningless question, since if everyone _can_ get an ID, then the law _won’t be supported_ in the first place. The whole point of such laws is voter suppression. If such a law is on the books, then that means it suppresses votes and therefore I’ll oppose it; if I don’t know how it suppresses votes that just means I haven’t figured out the trick to it. ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2014, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voter-id-law-with-9-years-notice-in-advance/702066/19 "2014-10-21T21:14:36Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > How does a bedridden paraplegic vote? > > I’m not saying this in any offensive way. I’m just asking how she votes, because without voting, the voter ID law doesn’t affect her. Currently by absentee ballot. But if the law changed in her state to require her to go somewhere to get an ID, she would not be able to. As to the concept of the government sending people out to find voters such as her and help them get an ID - really now, would they be riding unicorns? Or would they just fly on their wings? Because that is the fantasy world you would be proposing. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2014, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voter-id-law-with-9-years-notice-in-advance/702066/20 "2014-10-21T21:18:17Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > The waiting time is irrelevant - any voter ID requirement is inherently a form of poll tax Not if getting the IDs requires no fee. > [@Smapti](#): > > any voter ID requirement is…therefore prohibited by the 24th Amendment. Then how do US states that do have such laws, keep them? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voter-id-law-with-9-years-notice-in-advance/702066.md?page=2)