▲ 5 points

Ask HN: Does Your Country Require Voter ID?

by RickJWagner·6mo ago·6 comments·view on hn ↗

This is a lively topic currently in the US. There are competing claims: Voter ID prevents fraud versus Voter ID disenfranchises voters.

Ex-USA readers, where are you, and how does your country handle this?

6 comments

The vast majority of countries require some form of voter identification. As of 2021, photo ID was required by 176 countries or jurisdictions for voting. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voter_identification_laws

Countries without voter ID requirements for elections at the national level are short: Australia and New Zealand. Close is Scotland, which does not require photo ID for Scottish government and council elections.

In the US, some states require voter ID to vote in national elections, while others don't.

So the US, Australia, and New Zealand are outliers.

It really boggles the mind why it is such a contentious issue in the US.

If the idiots here in Argentina can give an national ID card to everyone, then it's not so hard. Here it's cheap, like US$10 or something like that, but you can ask for a an exception and get it for free.

Historically, the US has intentionally created barriers of entry to voting for the purpose of preventing minorities or political opponents from participating in Democracy.

Furthermore, you do need to be registered to vote. Which requires proof in and of itself, then a form of photo ID at the booth to prove that you are that registered person. As a result, we have virtually zero voting fraud.

So voter ID would do absolutely nothing while making the process harder, and it's pushed extremely disproportionately by Republicans - who openly advocate against civil voting rights. It's beyond obvious they just want a way to make it harder for brown people, women, and students to vote - all of which skew away from their party.

Then you get into the US having no national IDs (historical and cultural reasons, mostly) and that almost nobody is advocating for free voting IDs, which is a poll tax, which is blatantly unconstitutional.

Norway. Requires identifying yourself using some official ID like national ID card, passport or drivers license[1].

If you for some reason can't provide valid ID, but the one collecting your vote knows you, that person can vouch for your identity[2]. For example if you're an inmate, one of the prison guards can vouch for you.

[1]: https://valgmedarbeiderportalen.valg.no/ofte-stilte-sporsmal...

[2]: https://lovdata.no/nav/lov/2023-06-16-62/kap6/%C2%A76-11

Norway does. I think it was introduced in the 1990's after Helsinki Accord observers reported the possibility of fraud.

Until then, if you voted early and gave somebody else's name, you could have voted twice.

I don't think this happens often. It would have been included in the report of possible irregularities that is published after each election. I looked through the reports after two or three elections, and never saw reports about this.

The report of irregularities sounds like a good idea.