"Is that the case in the numerous other countries that require voter ID?"

Other countries that require ID to vote generally have an ID card system separate from the driving of vehicles, and more people hold passports. Consequently, a larger percentage of the population has a state ID readily at hand. Yes, in the USA states might offer an non-driver’s-license ID card, but the system is that this is a choice, not a must, while in other countries everyone needs to carry some form of ID at all time.

I have no idea why this has become a right vs left, polarized issue.

This might be my political bubble speaking, but the vast, vast majority of voter suppression stories I've seen have been Republican legislatures trying to deprive the Democratic party of votes.

But even if that's not the case, it stands to reason it'll end up being a left/right thing, because it's the right trying to deprive the left of a vote, or vice versa. The two party system guarantees it.

It's been that way since the civil rights movement and the republican southern strategy. Minorities, with very good reason, tend to vote against the republicans. This means someone holding household level demographic data knows exactly which neighborhoods to target if they're willing to use suppression tactics. And that's exactly what we've seen happening.

It's because the right benefits from low turnout. The left, representing the interests of the proletarian majority, benefits from large turnout. The Democratic party, a center left or center right party depending on who you talk to, has co-opted the left voter base and thereby depends on higher turnout during general elections. As a centrist party, they intentionally suppress turnout during primary elections (e.g. by not advertising the date in my community) to restrict ideological choices.

>The left, representing the interests of the proletarian majority.

No party is currently doing this unless you include third parties. The American left works for business too.

Agreed. These are all symptoms of capitalist dominance.

There's so much tribalism happening now. Getting legal Americans to vote and vote easily should be an issue for everyone to care about, regardless of party affiliation.