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Comment by nonethewiser | Hacker News Reader

> Americans don't want to use ID even for voting

*many liberal Americans

Pretty sure the US doesn't have an official federal-issued ID, and most of the time driving license works as such. And it seems this applies to the majority of Anglosphere countries.

Here in Poland we have a compulsory IDs, which for over 20 years now are plastic. Recently RFID tags and finger prints were added; there's also a standard biometric photo of face. All of this comes also with electronic and qualified electronic signature which can be used to verify our identity in government services or to sign the digital documents. And yes, we need to have it or the slowly accepted digital version when we want to vote in any elections.

You wouldn't need a federal-issued ID. You can use the state id which you also use to identify yourself for everything else. National ID "requirement" is a fake obstacle. Identification verification is already a requirement as well - you must give your name and attest that you are who you say you are. Lying about it is a crime. An ID would not add an additional requirement, it would just enable better enforcement.

Besides, with "Real ID" state ID's meet federal verification standards now as well.

Having a federal ID might make sense if you're voting in federal elections, but there are no direct federal elections in the US. People in the US vote in state elections, and the states then vote in the electoral college.

A passport is probably the most common ID issued by a federal government entity (Department of State) in the US.

A military ID is a also federal document (Department of Defense) but that only applies to a certain subset of the population.

That's funny, considering the concept of a national ID has been soundly rejected by republicans for decades. Instead we shoehorned SSN's into that position.

He said:

> Americans don't want to use ID even for voting

You said:

> a national ID

Most Republicans do not favor national ID's and do favor checking ID's to vote. The idea behind voter ID is using the same state ID you use to buy liquor, etc.

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