Voter IDs are a requirement in almost every democracy in the world from Europe to Mexico.
But legitimate concerns over voter suppression efforts in the American south led to a different ethic inside Democratic Party circles. Over time, Voter ID plans have been presumptively conflated with claims of “voter suppression” without much analysis of the actual impact of proposals.
To be sure “Voter ID” efforts have been thinly disguised efforts at voter suppression, routinely including language that would have dispirit and likely unconstitutional impacts on specific voters.