this post was submitted on 31 Aug 2025
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There are no government ID cards in the US. In order to vote, you have to actively register. Which is a barrier that can be abused to exclude minorities. E.g. there has been states mandating that you provide an address with street name and house number in order to register, excluding homeless people and people living in rural areas, especially Native Americans, from voting.
The whole "register to vote" is completely foreign to me, here every citizen is automatically eligible to vote and get summoned automatically once they are old enough to vote.
As for ID cards, you can use your driving license as your ID card inside Sweden, including for elections, other ID cards are easy to get, costs about 50USD for a national ID card (valid throughout the EU) or the same for a proper passport.
There are plenty of police stations where you can request a national ID card and a passport.
I suspect the situation is quite different in the US...
Yes, it is. The US is so proud at being the first modern democracy - but the flaws of being a prototype show. Every other country on Earth could learn from the flaws of the US political system, but they are more or less stuck in the 18^th^ century.
The US constitution was an absolute marvel of forward thinking when it was written.
Sadly over the centuries it has been turned into a holy relic that should be worshipped while the meaning of it has been lost.
We can use driving licenses and passports too, but neither is universal. Many people don't drive, and only approximately 50% of eligible citizens have a passport.