It's not just the ID having a cost, like someone else mentioned, it's things that, without context, sound innocuous yet have a disparate impact on certain communities.
Like, I've read about in some southern states, where the state will, as a cost-cutting measure, close DMV branches (i.e. the places where you'd go to get an ID for voting) but close mostly branches in majority-black communities. So, while the nearby white community still has their 5 DMV offices, the majority-black community now has 1. The result? Much longer lines, less availability of services.
Thing is, this kind of impact is hard to draw connections to, but it's a pattern you see played out again and again: 1) Require certain IDs to vote, 2) Make it harder for certain communities to get those IDs, 3) Make it cost something for those poorer communities to get IDs, 4) Now you've got an effective kind of voter suppression without there being one single act that does it.
Like that guy said, "you can't say n-word, n-word, n-word anymore," so you drape it in a series of actions that, taken individually, seem benign or can be easily argued for.
Here's the solution you won't see implemented: if you want to require an ID to vote, make it free and make it something you can obtain at anywhere, i.e. post offices, grocery stores, convenience stores, without requiring hard-to-obtain documents like birth certificates.
Like, I've read about in some southern states, where the state will, as a cost-cutting measure, close DMV branches (i.e. the places where you'd go to get an ID for voting) but close mostly branches in majority-black communities. So, while the nearby white community still has their 5 DMV offices, the majority-black community now has 1. The result? Much longer lines, less availability of services.
Thing is, this kind of impact is hard to draw connections to, but it's a pattern you see played out again and again: 1) Require certain IDs to vote, 2) Make it harder for certain communities to get those IDs, 3) Make it cost something for those poorer communities to get IDs, 4) Now you've got an effective kind of voter suppression without there being one single act that does it.
Like that guy said, "you can't say n-word, n-word, n-word anymore," so you drape it in a series of actions that, taken individually, seem benign or can be easily argued for.
Here's the solution you won't see implemented: if you want to require an ID to vote, make it free and make it something you can obtain at anywhere, i.e. post offices, grocery stores, convenience stores, without requiring hard-to-obtain documents like birth certificates.