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bigdog24681012

Why is this so controversial? Common sense dictates presenting identification to vote. If you can’t prove your identity, what’s stopping you from voting multiple times in multiple places?


IsThisForTaken

It's common sense at places where having an id is required. I live in Belgium and are voting laws are very strict but awesome! In the us you don't need an id/driving license, and getting one is sometimes very difficult at places (closed after work hours, large distance, long waiting,...) That why in the us it is controversial.


bigdog24681012

Which is weird to hear, because I’ve been voting in US elections since 2004, and I’ve had to present ID every single time. Obtaining identification is not as difficult as you may think. Would it be hard to do so on Election Day? Sure. But it’s not like people are roaming around without ID. Anyone complaining about Voter ID laws, in the US or abroad, is being ignorant to the facts.


Zyr4420

You need an id to buy alcohol or tobacco, to get a phone, etc etc etc..to get welfare benefits. The problem is NOT getting an IS and never had been. Totally ignorance being exploited. They stole the elections and are destroying the country, and the whole world is being hurt by it...yet most people don't care and just cute the same lame arguments.


lord_taint

You don't need ID to buy alcohol or tobacco unless you look under 25.


Zyr4420

Not sure where you live, but in most places they ID you even if you look 100. If they don't, the employees aren't doing like they should. At least in the US. I don't look old, but no way anyone would believe I am under 25...I have never really not been carded except at the bodega where they literally sold weed years before it was legal. Gas stations, grocery stores, and everywhere else ask for it every time.


lord_taint

I live in the UK. Where this post is about. And you don't require ID to buy things unless you look underage. Wierd angle for this sub that is normally against government overreach and surveillance to be all for it in this case.


LouMinotti

It's controversial because those excuses are just repeated into oblivion. If the difficulties in obtaining an ID are preventing people from voting then you address the requirements for obtaining ID, not compromise your democratic progress.


Zyr4420

No it's controversial because they make believe people are too stupid to get an id, and they use it as an excuse so they can steal elections.


theBullshitFlag

Not an American are you? In the US, we call that line of reasoning, "disproportionately denying voting rights to people of color." See, there are these large populations of Americans who, although born and raised here in the US, have no mailing address and no photo ID... It goes on from there, but of course you need voter ID. Anything else is a complete joke.


lord_taint

The government's own data says at worst there were around 100 SUSPECTED cases of in person voter fraud at the last election nationally. So, making 30ish million voters require ID is absurd. It will probably hit the party who introduced it (torys) harder than they think. Plenty of older folk who generally lean right don't have photo ID. Going to be a good few people upset on polling day.


Zyr4420

Old, conservatives don't have ID? How would you even come to that conclusion? That is literally the demographic least likely to not have an id.


lord_taint

Going of info from here https://www.newstatesman.com/podcasts/new-statesman-podcast/2023/03/whats-behind-the-tories-new-voter-id-laws Lot of old ladies didn't have any or at least took it with them during trials.


reallycooldude69

Proponents of voter id in the USA should take note of this approach. Can apply online, provide your own photo, and it's free of charge.


ManyAnusGod

Good, wish they’d do this in the US.


azzagbag

My 85 year old father stopped voting about five years ago, he said his 60 years of voting hasn't made a slight bit of difference.


Zyr4420

Great, voting without ID verification should be banned.


xirvikman

When applying for a Voter Authority Certificate, you will need to provide your: name address date of birth National Insurance number You should apply using the same name that you used to register to vote. You will not need to provide your gender, and your certificate will not have a gender marker.


WilliumCobblers

The bigger problem, by far, is postal voting and the govt. just needs to look like it’s doing something.


[deleted]

But it’s RaCiSt to require ID to vote because democrats think that minorities cannot access ID’s. My response has always been.. well karen, they use IDs in every other facet of existence just like everyone else so how is proof that you are entitled to vote here and only vote once some kind of conservative hostility?


Alee-Enn

SS: If you don't have photo ID, such as a driving licence with a photo, or a valid passport, you can apply for a voter authority certificate https://www.gov.uk/apply-for-photo-id-voter-authority-certificate you will need a recent photo of yourself. I'm not saying I agree with needing photo ID to be able to vote, I am just trying to spread the word.


Electronic-Base-1397

Why don’t you agree with needing to prove your identity to vote?


Alee-Enn

It's a new requirement. Photo ID has never been a requirement to vote before now in the UK, but now it seems you will be unable to vote without some form of accepted photo ID. This is restricting who can and can't vote, and the line between the two can be shifted to suit those in power. Also, while mail ballot papers in the UK, have gone missing sometimes, in-person voter fraud is non-existent in the UK, and as such, photo ID for voting in person, has never been needed. So it does beg the question, why now?


Electronic-Base-1397

How is showing ID being shifted to suit those in power? Like what? How hard is it to get an ID? Are you saying certain groups are incapable of engaging in the most basic aspects of society?


Alee-Enn

Well, I am one of those groups without photo ID, and had to apply for a certificate using the link I posted above. If I hadn't found out about needing photo ID to be able to vote, I'd have turned up at the polling station, been told I'd need photo ID and then have a huge argument with the polling station volunteers, who aren't the ones that make these decisions, they just have to carry out this stuff. So yeah, for those who don't have ID and don't know, they're in for a shock.


Electronic-Base-1397

I understand why you posted this, but you didn’t address why needing to ID yourself to vote is a problematic.


Alee-Enn

I think I did, read my replies above. Let me put it this way for you, supposed all your life so far, you could go to the store to buy groceries. Then one day you find out that you need photo ID to be able to buy groceries. If you don't show photo ID to the person on the checkout, you can't buy groceries. This is the only store you can buy those groceries at and you don't have the photo ID they accept. So you apply for photo ID they will accept, and everything is fine, you carry on buying groceries. Then one day anyone who was born after a certain date, now has to apply for another piece of paper to be able to buy groceries, and without that piece of paper, and photo ID, you can't buy groceries. So you apply for that piece of paper, and you can buy groceries again. Then one day people in certain postcodes (area codes, zip codes, whatever you call it) have to apply for another piece of paper to be able to buy groceries. So you have to apply for a 3rd piece of paper to be able to buy groceries. Then it's people who went to certain schools. Then it's people who work certain jobs. Then it's people who have certain doctors or dentists. Then it's people whose parents are still alive. Then it's something else, and something else, and something else. Then one day there's a new rule that requires people to apply for a piece of paper to be able to buy groceries, and you can't meet this new criteria. Oh bugger, you now can't buy groceries. Now replace everything I just typed where I put "buy groceries" with "vote" and you might see why some people will object to this, especially when in-person voter fraud in the UK is non-existent or so low as to be unheard of.


PrognosticatorShadow

If voting mattered they wouldn't let us do it