A story:
The man moved from Washington, D.C., to Alexandria, Va. A political sort, he was excited at first. Finally, a chance to influence the democratic process! A registered Republican, his vote was less than useless in D.C., where the only elections that truly mattered are (closed) Democratic primaries. So he went to the DMV and, in the process of changing his driver's license over, also registered to vote.
Unfortunately, thanks to the incompetence of the (likely Democrat-supporting) DMV clerk, the man's voter registration was not processed. He received a notice in the mail some months after trying to register that informed him he was not actually registered. And he certainly intended to register! After all, here was a man who was committed to the democratic process. But time passed and soon it was the days before the 2014 midterms and he realized, oops, he hadn't registered. It was too late. His vote would not be counted. And the Senate race he wished to vote in was shockingly close. Who knows how many like-minded supporters had been deterred just as he was?
A clear cut case of voter suppression, right?
Another story:
The man moved from Washington, D.C., to Alexandria, Va. A political sort, he was excited at first. Finally, a chance to influence the democratic process! A registered Republican, his vote was less than useless in D.C., where the only elections that truly mattered are (closed) Democratic primaries. So he went to the DMV and, in the process of changing his driver's license over, also registered to vote.
For one reason or another, his attempt to register to vote was not processed. No worries, he thought, I'll just do it sometime in the six months before the election. It is remarkably easy to register in Virginia: the state had actually sent him a form to fill out and mail back! One could also do it at the DMV, though that would mean waiting in line. You can even register to vote online! It isn't terribly complicated. All you need to do is carve out a little bit of time and get 'er done. But he didn't get 'er done. The man just kind of forgot about it. And when he remembered, occasionally, that he hadn't yet registered, he thought "Eh, I'll do it later." Until his procrastination went on too long and he ran out of time.
The man's vote was not suppressed. The man was simply lazy and apathetic. His vote did not mean enough to him to carve out a moment to ensure he had done what was needed to exercise the franchise.
If you haven't guessed by now, I am this man. And, needless to say, I don't actually think my vote was suppressed. I was simply lazy. Just as most people who refuse to do what is needed to be done to comply with the various state-by-state very, very basic voter ID regulations—registering and having an identification card—aren't being suppressed. They're just being lazy.
"But the elderly! They'll be hardest hit!" Please. As if the elderly have anything better to do than ride the bus and hang out at the DMV to get a non-driver ID. "The working poor! They can't take time off work!" A more sympathetic complaint, perhaps, but still something of a non-starter. If you're working, you already have ID (you can't work without it*) and registering takes no time at all.
All of this is moot, I guess, since commonsense voter ID laws have been successfully branded by liberals and the media as "wow so racist." However, the arguments against basic, commonsense voter ID laws are all so bizarre and silly that I can't help but voice my frustration with them. Thanks for listening while I vent.
Whatever. Can someone email me this story in 2016? Hopefully it'll inspire me to quit being such a lazy lump and get registered.
*I guess it might be possible to legally meet I9 identification requirements without a photo ID? I'm pretty sure every document in column B for those above the age of 18 has a photo on it; the only one I'm not entirely sure about is "Native American tribal document." I would wager that 99.9% of people who can legally work showed a photo ID of some sort when filling out that form.