… and I honestly do not know how many times I have had to renew it since I was 15, when I got it first.
WTF am I babbling about?
Well, I am not a US citizen, and the ID is not exactly a voter ID; it is just that, as I was picking up my government-issued piece of plastic with my picture on it today, it reminded me again of the voter ID controversy that has been brewing in the USA over the last decade or so. A controversy that was completely incomprehensible to my european mind at first, and still is, to be honest.
When an average European who is not overly informed about the minutiae of US politics hears that laws are being proposed in some states in the USA to require voters to provide picture ID when casting a vote, in all probability their first reaction will be profound befuddlement. “What? They do NOT have such requirements already? And why would anybody oppose such laws?” And the more said European learns about the voting systems in the USA, the more said befuddlement will probably grow, until they throw their hands up in the air and say something along the lines, “The US so called “Democracy” is completely idiotic, undemocratic, and the voting laws and systems make no sense whatsoever”. That was my reaction, and it was also the reaction of at least two of my friends. I admit that a sample of three is not particularly representative, but a plural of anecdotes is still data (it is just not conclusive data).
Here is how the system works in CZ, which, AFAIK, is relatively representative of how things work in EU countries:
At 15 years of age, every citizen is required by law to apply for a citizen’s ID at a local district office. There, they will be issued a picture ID, free of charge, that is valid for a fixed period (said period gets longer with each iteration). When the ID is close to its expiration, the citizen is then required to apply for a new one, and they are officially reminded of that requirement. As long as they do so within a reasonable time period, it is renewed free of charge. The only time a fee is charged is when someone loses their ID and needs to apply for a new one outside of the regular renewal period. The fees are high enough that people do not want to pay them frivolously, but not so big as to punish someone for having their wallet stolen – 8-40€, depending on how fast one wants to have a new ID issued.
Registering for voting is nonexistent, or to be more precise, it is automatic. By applying for an ID, one confirms their formal residence and citizen status. Whenever a vote is due, local, state, or EU-wide, voting ballots are delivered by post to said residence in advance, so everyone can read them and decide at their leisure.
Voting lasts two days – Friday and Saturday – so everyone who wants can cast their vote no matter what work they do and what shift they are assigned. People with mobility issues can request to have their vote collected at their residence. There is a system for voting by mail, but I never looked into it since I did not need it.
When casting the vote at the county office, every person shows their picture ID, and a clerk checks their name and address against a list. If someone forgets to bring their ballots from home, they can get a new set at the office. Then they go to a voting booth where they can choose and fill out their chosen ballot, put it in a grey envelope, and then cast it in the ballot box.
The votes are usually counted within hours and known to the public the next day.
If you are a USAmerican, you can now imagine the depth and width of the cultural chasm here. In the EU, the system is set up to make voting as easy and convenient as possible, although in my opinion, it would be greatly improved by making voting mandatory, at least for state-wide and EU-wide elections. In the USA, the system is set up to make voting confusing, difficult, and the system is for many people downright impossible to navigate.
Yet the American Mango in Chief, his Vice Couch-Fucker, and his minister Kegsbreath have the audacity to lecture us in the EU about freedom and democracy. To which I say, fuck’em.
Yeah, those of us in the US also say fuck ’em. And everyone else in The Orange Turd’s administration, and all the fucking republicans who are kissing that orange ass and making life as difficult and painful for anyone who is not rich. Fuck ’em all!
In the US, part of the confusion is that elections are handled by the various states, not the federal government. It’s written into the Constitution that way. Congress sets the dates for elections, but that’s all.
This turns out to be a good thing this time because there’s little Trump can do to alter the election short of something that’s actually illegal (not that Trump cares about the rule of law, but that’s another discussion).
@billseymour, in the EU, the elections are handled by individual states and not from Brussels, too. And some states occasionally do a mess of things (Hungary). Still, I think that 1) on average, the EU has much better electoral systems and 2) the US has the capacity to do better; there just is not the political will to do so.
I got my first picture ID when I turned 18. The official Government “office” was a liquor store.
(At the time, in Alberta, the only places it was possible to buy alcohol was at Government-run liquor stores. So they issued the IDs.)
I have used it many thousand times in the subsequent 50+ years for everything from voting to getting a passport to getting through security at the airport, etc., etc., etc. (and buying booze)
It is as normal as putting on clothes when you go outside.
I have always found the Yankee resistance to ID cards to be utterly baffling.