I think we're going about the voter ID problem backwards. We argue that we need voter ID, people claim it's discriminatory against low income minorities, and therefore racist.
So fuck it. Don't mention voting. Let's start a HARD PUSH for free state IDs. Doesn't have to be fancy. Doesn't have to be a driver's license. Just a push for a FREE ID that meets all minimum government issued ID requirements.
It's easy, we just gave BILLIONS of dollars in foreign aid to other countries in our "COVID bill." Just one billion of those dollars would buy a Texas Driver's license for all 330 million Americans 3 times over. We can surely afford as a country paying for a basic government ID.
A basic ID in Texas is $16. That's HALF the cost of a DL. Let's do THAT. Don't talk about voter ID, REMOVE the obstruction. Make a CLEAN argument that no one can object to.
"It's impossible to exist without a government issued ID, so a minimum ID should be provided free of charge by your state government. Driver's license still costs."
Liberals and Democrats CAN'T argue with it, because it's "gimme gimme" and Conservatives/Republicans shouldn't argue with it because it cleanly removes the biggest and only hurtle to Voter ID.
What do you guys think?
And going further, renewals of the ID - say every 5-7 years like a DL, should ALSO be free. In addition, if people complain they do not have or can't afford to pay for transportation to their local DMV's to obtain an ID- they could have a small fleet of "ID" busses...web connected, print out ID's right on the spot and send them into poor neighborhoods, so they go walk outside and can get an ID for FREE. They fucking use them to sign up new voters don't they? Repurpose those busses to distribute verified ID's.
And that whole thing would costs peanuts to run, in light of so many fucking pork projects.
ABSOLUTELY! They could do vouchers for transportation. Just like Uber was doing for voting. Need to ride the bus to the DMV? Sure. Just make an appointment online and get a voucher to ride the bus. Or pay for the bus ride and let the DMV give you a voucher to get back home, plus another free ride after that to make up for the one you paid for.
Yep! Many different ways to come at this. Although, some people may say they do not have "online", hence the neighborhood ID Busses.
I just came up with the idea to have a city bus give "ride credit" in the amount of the DMV fee PLUS the round trip cost. That makes it a zero dollar expense for the citizen.
If you can get there and back and pay the fee, the bus system will give you that total cost back in credit. Then there's no pre-requisite for doing any online stuff beforehand.