Quote Originally Posted by Gromgor View Post
Now if you argue it's fascist, I would fully support you. That it is just another step in the cataloging and documenting of everyone for proper processing through the commercialist machine, I would agree with you.

Instead all I hear is, "It's racist."

It's not racist if EVERYBODY has to do it. That's inclusive. That's the opposite of racism. That is equal misery for all.
It's racist if and only if it's more difficult for people of certain races to qualify. The law with the original grandfather clause was fundamentally discriminatory in nature (partially racist, though not only), yet the wording was designed to sound inclusive and fair. However, the best justification I've seen for the "it's racist" claim is unevenness in *current* stats on how many people hold these cards. What that may mean is that this new law puts greater burden on certain groups of people than certain others, but that's a temporary situation. I've seen no evidence or even assertions that it's particularly difficult for any group of people to get suitable ID.

Here in Australia, we don't currently have to show ID to vote, but we do have to get our names marked off, and we get sent out a little official card that has our electorate details on it. It wouldn't be a huge shift to say "You must bring this card in before you can vote", at which point the cards could be enhanced with QR codes that allow instant and centralized records of who's voted when. Would people be bothered by that? Probably not. It's just part of mandatory voting - everyone votes once, nobody votes more than once. Big deal.