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Comment by specialist | Hacker News Reader

Most democracies do not have a separate voter registration (bureaucratic) step.

this is not true, AFAIK. There is a process for registering and verifying. the UK requires registration, though you do not need photo ID

also not true in australia

re: UK and Australian

Thanks, I'll followup, see what's what. I hate being wrong.

I would have bet money (or a beer) that both had universal voter registration.

Especially Australian, since I understood their voting is compulsory.

I guess it qualifies as universal voter registration. The voter roll is a separate thing is what I meant. There are forms for registering, but it can be updated automatically by other government data sources. The important thing is updating your primary residence.

No photo id is required to actually vote.

Right, I'm aware. Most democracies do not have voter registration, but do have voter ID requirements.

This is the system you believe we should establish, on the basis that it's the international norm?

Most democracies don't have a byzantine process for obtaining an ID, and proving that you're who you claim you are. So if you can make the ID issuing process in US work as well as it does in, say, Germany, sure, there's no problem with requiring an ID to vote.

I wish you weren't being down voted. You're asking reasonable, technical questions. Without getting into the politics of it all.

I think he's being downvoted mostly because of his tone, which comes across as a bit too snarky.

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