Perhaps it's because it's only controversial to some, and only in the United States. And the fact that this "issue" is magnified by mass media.
It honestly isn't that controversial of an idea: a document stating that you're already registered to vote. That's it.
This is how it works in Canada: the address that Elections Canada has on hand for you (if any) is sent a flat piece of paper –not in an envelope either– that simply indicates that you're pre-registered to vote, and includes your home address, your polling location, and your poll number (which poll worker station you go to). The poll worker verifies your information with a second piece of information with your name + address: driver's license, passport, or piece of mail from a utility company, etc.
Personally, it'd be nice if I could opt to not receive and to not have to carry a piece of paper in the mail, and it sounds like this ISO standard + implementation can achieve that. (I'm guessing – I can't actually access the document)
> Perhaps it's because it's only controversial to some, and only in the United States.
Not only in the United States. See this article about proposals to introduce voter ID laws in Australia – https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/politics/australian-politics... – much like the US situation, the reforms are being proposed by the centre-right federal government, while the centre-left parties are opposed to it, as are progressive-leaning activist groups (such as the Human Rights Law Centre quoted in the article)
I can only speak for Australia, but this isn't an issue here. The article represents little more than a thought bubble that hasn't gone anywhere because it really is pointless. Proposals like that are never popular, have a near-zero chance of passing our parliament, and even if they did it wouldn't have the same election-swinging disproportionate effects as in the USA.
In Australia we have compulsory voting. We have an extremely well run elections operated by a highly competent non-partisan commission. And there are exceedingly few citizens which don't have some form of ID, whether that's a driver license, a photo card (voluntary card for people who don't have a driver license) a public healthcare card, or an ID issued by the welfare system.
>It honestly isn't that controversial of an idea: a document stating that you're already registered to vote. That's it.
Personally my problem is that voting laws are handled at the Federal level down, but IDs are run by the States. I guess RealID is supposed to be sort of the solution to that issue, but the requirments for those are annoying to fulfill if you're not a utility-paying tenant.
> I guess RealID is supposed to be sort of the solution to that issue, but the requirments for those are annoying to fulfill if you're not a utility-paying tenant.
If you have a car, you're good, since the vehicle registration and insurance count as the two documents you need. If you have a job, you're good, since a W-2 and a pay stub count as the two documents you need. If you don't pay any bills, and you don't have a car or a job, then you're almost certainly living with someone else (probably your parents), so you're good since they can fill out a Residency Affidavit.
I did say annoying, not impossible. For me it was no car, not the master tenant, no Residency Affidavit in my state, and I don't own a printer. So, an annoying afternoon to pull up my W2 and a paystub and send them to a Kinkos, as opposed to just one afternoon wasted at the DMV.
Coming from a country (Australia) where federal elections are 100% run by and under control of an (independent) federal agency – I wonder how much of the recent US controversies over voting are due to the fact that the implementation of federal elections is something under state (and often even local) control?
Would a "federal takeover" improve things? Have the FEC (or maybe even a new successor agency) actually run presidential and congressional elections?
Of course, I realise it is very unlikely that legislation for such a "federal takeover" would make it through Congress, and if they did, there is a high likelihood that SCOTUS (especially with their current majority) would strike it down as an unconstitutional encroachment on state's rights.
Problem with that argument: in New Zealand, they have non-compulsory voting, but New Zealand doesn't have those kinds of controversies either. That's why I don't think compulsory voting really works as an explanation, despite the fact that it is the first thing to pop into many Australians' heads.
In fact, most Western countries are like New Zealand – lack of compulsory voting (unlike Australia), lack of any major controversies over the integrity of the voting system (unlike the US)
It honestly isn't that controversial of an idea: a document stating that you're already registered to vote. That's it.
This is how it works in Canada: the address that Elections Canada has on hand for you (if any) is sent a flat piece of paper –not in an envelope either– that simply indicates that you're pre-registered to vote, and includes your home address, your polling location, and your poll number (which poll worker station you go to). The poll worker verifies your information with a second piece of information with your name + address: driver's license, passport, or piece of mail from a utility company, etc.
Personally, it'd be nice if I could opt to not receive and to not have to carry a piece of paper in the mail, and it sounds like this ISO standard + implementation can achieve that. (I'm guessing – I can't actually access the document)