proud republican wrote:
Question 1 Do you think asking for picture ID is racist?
It might be, if the ID'ing system were deliberately set up to disproportionately impact people of particular "race(s)".
You could have asked a different question, such as: "Do you think this 'asking for picture ID' system will tend to favor one political party over another?"
proud republican wrote:
Question 2 Do you think black people so stupid they can't find picture ID?
No, of course not. Your question #2 appears to be designed for some rhetorical purpose! But, thinking a little further into it, do these people _have_ a picture ID, and is it the right _kind_ of picture ID? I'll get back to that after a bit.
If racism or "black"ness is involved in an election picture ID system, it's might be because some "races" or "black" people tend to vote more Democratic than Republican. I notice that it seems to be Republicans who advocate for 'asking for picture ID' or any other systems to make voting more difficult.
As for me, a voter, if I'm asked for my picture ID then I might show my driver's license, _if_ I had driven myself to the polling place in a car. Sometimes I just walk to the polling place. I don't carry my driver' license everywhere -- mostly just when I go places by driving myself. Without my driver's license, what would I use for the picture ID? I don't know.
Some people don't have driver's licenses.
What kind of people don't have driver's licenses?
Answer: I would guess that mostly they would be poor people, and maybe a lot of students, or anyone who doesn't drive or lives where driving isn't necessary, which might include a lot of inner-city residents and a lot of students.
Do poor people and students tend to vote more Democrat or more Republican?
Do "black" people tend to be more poor than "white" people?
According to Greg Palast (an investigative reporter who's been covering U.S. elections for many years), 646,671 voters were blocked from voting in 2016 because they had the wrong ID. He says his calculations are based on 2016 data reported by the EAC [Elections Assistance Commission], Census, Federal Elections Commission (FEC) and the quadrennial Survey of the Performance of American Elections (SPAE). I'm getting this from page 178 of his book "How Trump Stole 2020", copyright 2020.
What wrong ID? In the scenario of Wisconsin students, I can answer that, because it's described on pages 149-150 of the same book. But if you're only interested in "race" or racism, hang on because "Black" is also mentioned in what follows here:
"Nationwide, only two states recorded a drop in student voting. Wisconsin's drop was breathtaking. In-precinct voting by students declined by a third, from 67% to 49%. ...
"... They were disappeared in plain sight by the Republican legislature under laws crafted by Wisconsin's radical-right Governor, Scott Walker.
"One new law required a government photo ID to vote. But the photo ID issued by the state to its 182,000 University of Wisconsin students (begin italics) did not qualify them (end italics) for voting nor for registration.
"... Gun permits could be used to vote; but not student ID. ...
"A Wisconsin driver's license would do. But not everyone has a license. Who doesn't drive? Students in Madison and low-income urban voters, i.e., the Black population of Milwaukee.
"What was particularly devastating was that the law was ordered into effect by a court only two weeks before the 2016 election. Even those who knew of the change had little time to correct their lack of paperwork, even if they could."
And so on. It is particularly relevant if it is a known fact (among Republicans crafting the voter ID law) that students and low-income urban voters tend to vote Democratic. I happen to have information handy regarding the students. It's earlier on page 149 where he writes, "... Wisconsin was supposed to be a safe state for Clinton. Her husband had won Wisconsin twice. In fact, Democrats had crushed it seven elections in a row, helped by the massive vote from the famously progressive, activist University of Wisconsin student population."