Hi Thomas,

The reason for the U.S. to not charge for an ID needed to vote lies in the right to vote, embedded in our Constitution. Anything that government does to dilute that right isn't allowed.

Hank

>>>>And guess who are against making the ID's free and geographically accessible? It's not the Dems.
>>>>
>>>Our ID never was free, every repeat issue costs money. The ID card can be seen as part of the info and documentation included in a passport - every citizen is required to posess at least either ID card or passport. You are not required to have it on person, but if needed to provide ID you have to show it.
>>>Couple of decades ago cost was really small, just enough to make certain you looked after your ID as to not incur cost of issuing it again - as it is/was valid for 10 years if not lost in between. Adress change is noted via special sticker, no need to issue new in case of moving into new home. Today inflation and added functionality have increased price to ~40€ for ID card (usable as passport in EU EU and some EU-neighboring countries) and ~60€ for passport. I dislike hiking the price for "added functionality", as some - if not most - of that like machine readable chip is IMO not "peoples wishes". Still, 4 or 6€ for each year it is valid is not that bad/expensive, also the register cost on each adress change is less than the beer cost for 2 helpers.
>>
>>The US Constitution prohibits a "poll tax," the requirement of paying any fee in order to vote. Requiring someone to pay to get an ID so they can vote, in my view, is a poll tax.
>>
>In the last paragraph you snipped I agreed in principle - documentation forced/required by law should not cost.
>
>OTOH should everybody pay via taxes for the admin overhead of people moving every 6 month ?
>If ID card gets stolen or destoyed well before 10 years are up, why saddle the cost to taxpayer ?
>
>regards
>thomas