# Won't "vaccine passports" affect poorer/"blacker" people more (a la Voter ID)? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [August 3, 2021, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wont-vaccine-passports-affect-poorer-blacker-people-more-a-la-voter-id/947986 "2021-08-03T19:25:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![LauderdaleFort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/977dab/32.png) [@LauderdaleFort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LauderdaleFort)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2021, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wont-vaccine-passports-affect-poorer-blacker-people-more-a-la-voter-id/947986/1 "2021-08-03T19:25:27Z")
Given that poor people and African Americans and Hispanics have lower vaccination rates that whites or Asian, won’t vaccine passports end up being racially biased? How can we defend having such a document if voter ID was seen as an entry barrier for those same people? ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2021, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wont-vaccine-passports-affect-poorer-blacker-people-more-a-la-voter-id/947986/2 "2021-08-03T19:33:32Z")
COVID vaccines are free to anyone and you get a card with the proof for free. Vaccinations are available in many places – local drug stores, doctor’s offices, etc., and at many times, including evenings and weekends. IDs for voter IDs can be expensive and hard to get, and you may have to travel quite far, and those offices are rarely opened on weekends and evenings. Glad we cleared that up! I imagine you’ll ask for this thread to be closed now. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2021, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wont-vaccine-passports-affect-poorer-blacker-people-more-a-la-voter-id/947986/3 "2021-08-03T19:35:12Z")
> [@LauderdaleFort](#): > > Given that poor people and African Americans and Hispanics have lower vaccination rates that whites or Asian, won’t vaccine passports end up being racially biased? I’d start by asking why they have lower vaccination rates. If it’s because certain people or certain groups of people are choosing not to get vaccinated for one reason or another that’s what needs to be addressed, not the vaccine card. If they’ve not getting vaccinated because they lack the ability to get to a vaccine clinic, that to can be addressed. Set up more clinics, find ways to get people to the clinics, find nurses/doctors that are willing to do home visits etc > [@LauderdaleFort](#): > > How can we defend having such a document if voter ID was seen as an entry barrier for those same people? The problem is that getting an ID for the purpose of voting costs money and is purposely made overly difficult, especially for lower income people. This is done for purely political reasons to make it harder for a specific segment of the population to exercise their right to vote. The two really aren’t related. ---
**Author:** ![Kimera757](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kimera757/32/3765_2.png) [@Kimera757](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimera757)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2021, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wont-vaccine-passports-affect-poorer-blacker-people-more-a-la-voter-id/947986/4 "2021-08-03T19:36:03Z")
> [@LauderdaleFort](#): > > Given that poor people and African Americans and Hispanics have lower vaccination rates that whites or Asian, won’t vaccine passports end up being racially biased? Wouldn’t that make it harder for Southern Republican voters as well? ---
**Author:** ![LauderdaleFort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/977dab/32.png) [@LauderdaleFort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LauderdaleFort)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2021, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wont-vaccine-passports-affect-poorer-blacker-people-more-a-la-voter-id/947986/5 "2021-08-03T19:36:14Z")
Ok, so “free” means “it doesn’t matter if it affect minorities more”. Gotcha. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2021, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wont-vaccine-passports-affect-poorer-blacker-people-more-a-la-voter-id/947986/6 "2021-08-03T19:37:45Z")
Could you connect those two? How does “free” mean “it doesn’t matter if it affect minorities more”? To reiterate what I posted earlier, first you need to tell us WHY minorities have lower vaccination rates. We already know why they have a harder time voting or getting an ID to vote but how is that related to vaccine passports? ---
**Author:** ![LauderdaleFort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/977dab/32.png) [@LauderdaleFort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LauderdaleFort)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2021, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wont-vaccine-passports-affect-poorer-blacker-people-more-a-la-voter-id/947986/7 "2021-08-03T19:37:52Z")
They aren’t completely unrelated. Many people said, here, that even free, easy to get ID was racist because even going to the ID-getting place was an unsurmountable problem. I know that getting the jab is easier and more available, but so could ID-getting be. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2021, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wont-vaccine-passports-affect-poorer-blacker-people-more-a-la-voter-id/947986/8 "2021-08-03T19:40:14Z")
Like most everything in this country, it will be more burdensome to the poor. But that’s the way the country was set up. Unlike voter ID, however, efforts are being made by the government to bring mobile vaccination clinics to poor areas. That’s a start, and it’s better than we’ve done in the past. So the two aren’t comparable. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2021, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wont-vaccine-passports-affect-poorer-blacker-people-more-a-la-voter-id/947986/9 "2021-08-03T19:41:36Z")
If voter ID was as free and easy to get as a vaccine, I imagine most of the resistance to voter ID laws would disappear. I also imagine that people who are using voter ID laws to stop the “wrong” people from voting wouldn’t bother and would try for some other method to cheat at elections. Just FYI, I’m going to report this thread for moving to another forum, because it doesn’t seem right for QZ which is supposed to be apolitical and about the actual pandemic. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2021, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wont-vaccine-passports-affect-poorer-blacker-people-more-a-la-voter-id/947986/10 "2021-08-03T19:41:45Z")
> [@LauderdaleFort](#): > > They aren’t completely unrelated So related them then. > [@LauderdaleFort](#): > > Many people said, here, that even free, easy to get ID was racist because even going to the ID-getting place was an unsurmountable problem. Walgreens is open 24 hours a day. The DMV or your local city hall not so much. > [@LauderdaleFort](#): > > I know that getting the jab is easier and more available, but so could ID-getting be. I’m confused. In your OP you suggested that people shouldn’t have to get a vaccine passport because getting a voter ID is difficult. Now you’re saying that ID-getting could be made easier. Are you arguing that getting a voter ID should be easier or that there shouldn’t be a vaccine passport? ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2021, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wont-vaccine-passports-affect-poorer-blacker-people-more-a-la-voter-id/947986/11 "2021-08-03T19:45:48Z")
Moderating: Moving to Politics & Elections as more political than pandemic related. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2021, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wont-vaccine-passports-affect-poorer-blacker-people-more-a-la-voter-id/947986/12 "2021-08-03T19:46:30Z")
I’m going to respond as though this thread is already moved to another forum. Hopefully, this doesn’t draw a warning. I was walking around NYC the other day and there was a mobile vaccination clinic in the shape of an ice cream truck on the street. Just walk up and get vaccinated. I assume Georgia will be sending out the mobile free-and-easy voter ID vans any day now. ETA: Thanks, @Aspenglow! ---
**Author:** ![LauderdaleFort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/977dab/32.png) [@LauderdaleFort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LauderdaleFort)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2021, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wont-vaccine-passports-affect-poorer-blacker-people-more-a-la-voter-id/947986/13 "2021-08-03T19:47:09Z")
I’m saying that actions (even very good and logic ones like getting a vaccine) that disproportionately affect minorites and poor people have to give us a moment’s thought to not pile on another problems on those who, also, have been the most affecfted by theeconomic downturn. My point is that if you, now, don’t have or have lost the vaccine card thingy and you need to get another one you’re faced with the same theoretical problems of getting voter ID. There are of course issues in some places like price, schedule and location (and not a little political manoeuvering) but still, the practical issue is very similar, ---
**Author:** ![LauderdaleFort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/977dab/32.png) [@LauderdaleFort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LauderdaleFort)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2021, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wont-vaccine-passports-affect-poorer-blacker-people-more-a-la-voter-id/947986/14 "2021-08-03T19:48:35Z")
fuck the racist laws connected to voter ID, but I think that, in principle, voter ID is a good idea. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2021, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wont-vaccine-passports-affect-poorer-blacker-people-more-a-la-voter-id/947986/15 "2021-08-03T19:49:50Z")
Why is voter ID a good idea? ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2021, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wont-vaccine-passports-affect-poorer-blacker-people-more-a-la-voter-id/947986/16 "2021-08-03T19:50:04Z")
> [@LauderdaleFort](#): > > the practical issue is very similar, In one case, a political party is trying to make it more difficult to vote by imposing voter ID requirements, at the same time they are making it more difficult to obtain those IDs. In the other case, the state and federal governments are trying to make it as easy as possible to get a vaccine and a card. And, you can get a replacement card pretty easily by going back to the place you were vaccinated. And, you (hopefully) took pictures of your vaccine card. And, several states are rolling out free apps that can verify your vaccination status. Man, these cases really ARE eerily similar. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2021, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wont-vaccine-passports-affect-poorer-blacker-people-more-a-la-voter-id/947986/17 "2021-08-03T19:51:45Z")
I don’t understand why it’s a good idea, since voter fraud is vanishingly rare, especially in-person voter fraud. But even if it’s a good idea in theory, it seems to be a terrible idea in practice, at least in the US. Do you want this to be a thread about voter ID laws? I thought this was meant to be about how racist vaccine passports are. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2021, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wont-vaccine-passports-affect-poorer-blacker-people-more-a-la-voter-id/947986/18 "2021-08-03T19:54:00Z")
> [@LauderdaleFort](#): > > I’m saying that actions (even very good and logic ones like getting a vaccine) that disproportionately affect minorites and poor people have to give us a moment’s thought to not pile on another problems on those who, also, have been the most affecfted by theeconomic downturn. And I’m asking you why vaccine rates are worse in minority populations and tell me how that relates to the ability of that same population to attain a voter ID. You haven’t done that yet and until then, the two things have nothing to do with each other. > [@LauderdaleFort](#): > > My point is that if you, now, don’t have or have lost the vaccine card thingy and you need to get another one you’re faced with the same theoretical problems of getting voter ID. What are you talking about? I can walk into Walgreens, where they have everything on file, and they’ll make a new one for me. Lose your ID and see how much time and money it takes to get a new one. Again, you need to actually spell out why “you’re faced with the same theoretical problems of getting voter ID” you can’t just keep saying it, you need to explain it. > [@LauderdaleFort](#): > > There are of course issues in some places like price, schedule and location (and not a little political manoeuvering) but still, the practical issue is very similar, When it comes to the vaccine, the price is free, the schedule is up to you, they’re open a lot more than just M-F 9-5 and the location is all over the place. Just about every Walgreens (and some other drug stores), mobile clinics, temporary clinics, even some major sporting events are doing them. There’s no shortage of places to get the vaccine. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2021, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wont-vaccine-passports-affect-poorer-blacker-people-more-a-la-voter-id/947986/19 "2021-08-03T19:54:15Z")
In Illinois we have to show an ID to register to vote. Requiring one at the ballot box is unnecessarily burdensome. And naturally, it will disproportionally affect the poor. So it’s not a good idea. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2021, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wont-vaccine-passports-affect-poorer-blacker-people-more-a-la-voter-id/947986/20 "2021-08-03T20:04:44Z")
OP, this message board is pretty opposed to voter ID in general. You could try starting a thread like: “I think voter ID is important for the integrity of elections, but I understand people disagree with me. However, let’s say voter ID was free and as easy to get as the COVID vaccine, and in return for passing voter ID laws, Republicans would agree to help with voter outreach programs, especially in minority areas, and encourage voting rules that made it easier for minorities, the poor, and non-English-speakers to vote. Would you agree to the voter ID requirements then?” I bet you’d get some enthusiastic agreement! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wont-vaccine-passports-affect-poorer-blacker-people-more-a-la-voter-id/947986.md?page=2)