> a significant numbers of Americans think requiring proof of who you are is voter suppression.

> No one thinks that.

> "Voter ID requirements limit the number of people who are able to cast a ballot."

Ref: https://www.aclu.org/facts-about-voter-suppression

The first page of results for "id laws voter suppression" turned up similar statements from the WaPo, Atlantic, Wired, Vox, and quotes numerous politicians. Your "no one thinks that" is not in line with reality.

Literally requiring some form of identification is not crazy.

That said, the Republican path of establishing voter ID laws is often part of a pattern of "let's make it hard for the poor and working class to get proper ID, and to vote".

Reducing early voting, not making ID cards free, etc. Voting should be a universal right in this country. The government should be putting in maximum effort to assist everyone who wants to vote, to be ready when the time comes, and enable early voting as much as possible.

I'm pretty sure some of the "ohmygod you're suppressing voters!" articles are about states with free IDs. (Or extremely cheap - for instance in Michigan an ID is $10)

ID cards are not free in Europe either and no you can't make them in each village. Every time this topic comes up here someone posts a vox article writing that you someone had to go to a bigger city to get documents because where he lives was 3000 strong population. Heck, there are places where you HAVE to vote by the law and yes it does take a small effort to get documents and keep them updated every 6-8 yrs.

> No one thinks that.

Just about everyone I know who leans even slightly left here in the US believes that requiring ID to vote is defacto voter suppression.

Because in many cases the states make it difficult to obtain a valid ID to vote. For example, shutting down DMVs or limiting their hours. I'm against voter ID laws until IDs are easily accessible to every voter.

If we're talking about the presidential election, you have four whole years to get an ID.

Also it seems like states are making it easier to get an ID [0]

[0] https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/12/12/16767426/...

Well it is, but only archaic voting systems would require it and this becomes a nonissue if states shift to modern system like those used in Oregon, Washington, Colorado, and Utah.

ID requirements are a form of voter suppression in places (like USA now) where the IDs aren't universal. If it's ensured that everyone does have the ID (like many other countries), then verifying that ID instead of the current voter registries does not suppress the votes of any group.