A pro-government idea whose time was never right, and is now fading:
That was what Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, a Republican, said in 2011 as he signed a law imposing this new mandate. “There really is no barrier for people,” he asserted. “Particularly in a society where people need photo identification for just about everything else, including checking out a book from the library … it’s a reasonable requirement.”
Many of the advocates can’t imagine anyone functioning in 21st-century America without valid proof of identity. So they are skeptical that requiring it could possibly be an obstacle to voting. They also tend to believe that anyone who lacks something so basic deserves no accommodation.
These attitudes reflect a failure to understand the lives of many Americans. In the suit challenging the Wisconsin law, which recently was overturned by a federal court, a parade of people attested that they lacked the required ID and, in many cases, couldn’t easily get it….
Via The Misinformed Case for Voter ID @ Reason.com.