Voter ID Laws

[YmirGF]

Just in case people missed it, let me say it again. You do not need a photo ID to vote in Canada! Maybe you have always voted that way because you have always had a photo ID. But you don't need one.

http://www.elections.ca/content.aspx?section=vot&dir=ids&document=index&lang=e

In Canada you can vote with a birth certificate and an electric bill. (I have in fact voted that way). You can vote with a library card and a letter from your school. You can vote with blood donor card and a letter from a homeless shelter. Or dozens of other combinations. And if you don't have any ID with your address you can have someone vouch for you.

Please don't make it sound like my country is involved in the same kind of voter suppression that the Republican party in the states is doing. Harper tried that crap and failed. Long live Justin Trudeau!

Oh, good grief, LOL. You might want to add that Elections Canada added the wider scope to ID for voting, including vouching for another under Haperino. Jus' sayin'....

 

[YmirGF]

Health cards in Canada don't have photos.

The old ones don't, Patty. The new ones do. You might want to cough up the $15.00 at Service Canada.

 

[Willamena]

The old ones don't, Patty. The new ones do. You might want to cough up the $15.00 at Service Canada.

Not as long as my old card still serves me.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

As a Canadian, all my voting life I have received a card in the mail telling me where my polling station was and that I should arrive early, bring the card I was reading as well as photo ID. This has been the case as long as I can remember. That said, I don't think I've ever heard anyone in Canada say that this was an unfair thing that discouraged people from voting as photo ID is so drop dead easy to obtain at a very low cost.

That makes me ask. What is it a big deal in the US in requiring people to produce Photo ID when they turn up to vote? My main point is how do such people cope in the modern world without having photo ID? Is Photo ID super expensive? The other point is how do you know if someone is the person they claim they are if they do not produce ID corroborating what they claim?

You don't need photo ID to vote in Canada.

... at least not in federal elections, provincial elections in Ontario, or municipal elections anywhere I've lived.

http://www.elections.ca/content.aspx

 

[YmirGF]

Not as long as my old card still serves me.

Hehe, I know the feeling. The thing is that if it really old already, even if in good condition, folks you flash it at may wonder what the heck it is and that has happened to me. I think it was my BC ID card and it didn't have an expiration date on it, the address was no longer correct and the photo was 30 years old, (but clearly me), LOL.

 

[beenherebeforeagain]

When it comes to voting on raising property taxes I strongly feel that only those who pay property taxes should be allowed to vote on that. Its just to easy to vote to take someone else's money.

so, by the same token, when voting to raise or lower income taxes, only those who have incomes should get to vote? When voting to change sales taxes, only those who buy should get to vote? Only people who have payrolls should get to vote on changing payroll taxes?

 

[YmirGF]

Follow up question that I should have put in the OP itself (and have now included in it),

Do any posters on RF not have Photo ID of some kind or another? How do you cope with dealing with banks or any financial institutions without it? Why can you not get it? Do you care if you get it?

 

[dawny0826]

As a Canadian, all my voting life I have received a card in the mail telling me where my polling station was and that I should arrive early, bring the card I was reading as well as photo ID. This has been the case as long as I can remember. That said, I don't think I've ever heard anyone in Canada say that this was an unfair thing that discouraged people from voting as photo ID is so drop dead easy to obtain at a very low cost.

That makes me ask. What is it a big deal in the US in requiring people to produce Photo ID when they turn up to vote? My main point is how do such people cope in the modern world without having photo ID? Is Photo ID super expensive? The other point is how do you know if someone is the person they claim they are if they do not produce ID corroborating what they claim?

EDIT: Do any posters on RF not have Photo ID of some kind or another? How do you cope with dealing with banks or any financial institutions without it? Why can you not get it or what obstacles are in the way of getting it? Do you care if you get it or is it pretty low on your priority list?

I don't get it, myself. My driver's license has even come in handy when I've misplaced my voter card.

Having had several jobs that required that I check ID, I can tell you that I've encountered very few who haven't been able to produce it. Surely, this can't really be about people not having ID or am I missing something?

 

[YmirGF]

I don't get it, myself. My driver's license has even come in handy when I've misplaced my voter card.

Having had several jobs that required that I check ID, I can tell you that I've encountered very few who haven't been able to produce it. Surely, this can't really be about people not having ID or am I missing something?

I guess what puzzles me is that one needs ID to cash a government support check (of any kind) at any financial institution, so how do the "disenfranchised" handle that if they don't have ID? Most banking institutions are not keen on accepting Hydro bills or phone bills as proof of who you are... I noticed that Elections Canada, for example, will even accept expired photo ID... whereas banks will not. Like, what happens with these folks if they are ever stopped by the police and asked to produce identification?

 

[dawny0826]

I guess what puzzles me is that one needs ID to cash a government support check (of any kind) at any financial institution, so how do the "disenfranchised" handle that if they don't have ID? Most banking institutions are not keen on accepting Hydro bills or phone bills as proof of who you are... I noticed that Elections Canada, for example, will even accept expired photo ID... whereas banks will not. Like, what happens with these folks if they are ever stopped by the police and asked to produce identification?

Good question. I don't know how they manage, unless they are fairly dependent on someone else to take care of such business for them.

 

[beenherebeforeagain]

I guess what puzzles me is that one needs ID to cash a government support check (of any kind) at any financial institution, so how do the "disenfranchised" handle that if they don't have ID? Most banking institutions are not keen on accepting Hydro bills or phone bills as proof of who you are... I noticed that Elections Canada, for example, will even accept expired photo ID... whereas banks will not. Like, what happens with these folks if they are ever stopped by the police and asked to produce identification?

Often, arrested. They often don't get regular benefits, either. And the police suggest that they move on and find another place to stay.

A study I'm familiar with suggested that in most cities, 10 to 15 percent of the population is homeless, rather than the "official" counts of people on the streets, which is a much smaller number. Mother and children often stay with relatives and friends, sometimes divided between households, while dads more often end up staying with friends or acquaintances for a few days here and there, or in the car, or an abandoned house...most avoid shelters except in very bad weather because shelters are dangerous places to be.

 

[Poisonshady313]

Why should I have to prove it?
Tom

If we could just take everyone who shows up to vote at their word that they're "a citizen, of age, with no felony record.", we wouldn't be having this discussion.

 

[Willamena]

Hehe, I know the feeling. The thing is that if it really old already, even if in good condition, folks you flash it at may wonder what the heck it is and that has happened to me. I think it was my BC ID card and it didn't have an expiration date on it, the address was no longer correct and the photo was 30 years old, (but clearly me), LOL.

They still send the old one in the mail when it needs replacing. I didn't know there were ID ones.

 

[beenherebeforeagain]

Good question. I don't know how they manage, unless they are fairly dependent on someone else to take care of such business for them.

Creatively. Panhandling, handouts and generosity from family and friends, work for cash, work of in-kind. Probably petty theft as well. Communities develop among the homeless, and there's a lot of sharing that goes on.

Story from the front: a young man, one of many living under bridges in Indianapolis, was given a McDonald's gift card so he could get regular meals for awhile (if I recall correctly, it was from a family member). Did he keep it for himself? No, he got as many of the homeless together as he could and they all went and got dollar sandwiches and fries, made a party of it. He shared his bounty because he felt it wouldn't be right if others among his fellows were hungry while he had the means to get food.

 

[David1967]

so, by the sathen token, when voting to raise or lower income taxes nly those who have incomes sould get to vote? When voting to change sales taxes, only those who buy should get to vote? Only people who have payrolls should get to vote on changing payroll taxes?

If you mean that tax payers should be the ones who vote on tax issues , then yes. Never going to happen though. Politicians know that they wouldnt get half the stuff passed that they do if the people that were paying for it had the final say.

 

[beenherebeforeagain]

If you mean that tax payers should be the ones who vote on tax issues , then yes. Never going to happen though. Politicians know that they wouldnt get half the stuff passed that they do if the people that were paying for it had the final say.

It also wouldn't be a democracy anymore, if you limit people's right to vote in such a manner. It becomes, no matter how many or how few, a plutocracy, a system based on wealth, not individual citizenship. That may be okay to you, it's not to me.

The US Constitutional system was set up to protect the rights of property holders (about 15 percent of the population at the time), from the majority...it's why we have a representational democracy, rather than direct. Over time, the US has recognized that such a limited-access democracy is in direct contradiction to the founding declared principles of the nation (inalienable rights, including (but not limited to) life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness).

Let's say we go to an "only taxpayers can vote on how their taxes will be spent" system. Aside from the logistical nightmare of determining who gets to vote on which issues, how is that materially any different from the Communist Party's "democracy" in China, where you get to vote so long as you are a member of the Communist Party?

 

[David1967]

It also wouldn't be a democracy anymore, if you limit people's right to vote in such a manner. It becomes, no matter how many or how few, a plutocracy, a system based on wealth, not individual citizenship. That may be okay to you, it's not to me.

The US Constitutional system was set up to protect the rights of property holders (about 15 percent of the population at the time), from the majority...it's why we have a representational democracy, rather than direct. Over time, the US has recognized that such a limited-access democracy is in direct contradiction to the founding declared principles of the nation (inalienable rights, including (but not limited to) life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness).

Let's say we go to an "only taxpayers can vote on how their taxes will be spent" system. Aside from the logistical nightmare of determining who gets to vote on which issues, how is that materially any different from the Communist Party's "democracy" in China, where you get to vote so long as you are a member of the Communist Party?

I will concede that I believe you are correct as far as the big picture goes. But on the subject of raising property taxes, I must stick to my opinion on that. I have seen too often in my area non property tax payers voting to raise property taxes for some non necessity, that if only the people that paid the property taxes were allowed to vote on it, it would never pass. On this subject I think it is too easy to vote to spend others money. So I guess I agree with you about eighty percent.

 

[fantome profane]

Yes they do. I'm looking at mine right now.

Your's probably hasn't got a picture because you get them in the mail and haven't been to servicecanada to have the pic taken.

I thought the same thing then I remembered that health cards are issued by the province. What province do you live in?

 

[fantome profane]

Ontario.
But I recall getting the card from service canada and not service ontario.
Perhaps I am mistaken.

look at your card. It says Ontario.

 

[sun rise]

In canada everyone has photoid from health card.
I imagine that's not the case in the states.

I like the solution - the US should adopt Canada's health system. Win-win.