[MaDef]

Originally Posted by vienna

Actually, there has been, in the past, a rather vocal opposition to voter ID from those of the Far-Right end of the spectrum. I recall listening to talk radio shows from the 60s through the 80s and there were always some Right Wing caller who would get all het up when the subject of national IDs came up and voter IDs were right up there on their list of 'gubbamint' efforts to be resisted; their thinking was any form of standardized, universal ID, even on a state level, was just another means of the Big Brother 'commanists' trying to account for every citizen, at all times, and, ya know, once they got you in their files, they was a commin' ta git ya! It was akin to the current tinfoil hat crowd's obsession with subcutaneous RFID chips and the like and their belief any form of mass ID is just a ploy to get us in a massive database. The big difference now is that the Right is pushing the idea they once held in suspicion and the Left is now opposing with new suspicions. Maybe, in another twenty or thirty years, the roles will be reversed again...<O>

Related but not the same, A national ID requirement is different than just a voter id requirement. As far as I'm aware there are no laws requiring a citizen to carry ID papers. The voter ID laws are more akin to a drivers license (you don't need one unless you are operating a motor vehicle). So you won't need to show ID except at the polls to show you are in fact eligible to vote.