1. United States
2. Ohio
3. Letter

Every eligible citizen should be able to vote without unnecessary barriers. In a healthy democracy, the right to vote isn’t something you earn or defend and the burden is on the government to make voting easier, not on citizens to prove they deserve to vote. Voter ID laws undermine that principle by turning a right into privilege that can be lost if you don’t have the right document at the right time. Since 2020, states across the country have passed new or stricter voter ID laws, often in the name of “election integrity.” But the ultimate cost of such laws is millions of otherwise eligible voters facing new burdens to vote or being blocked entirely — and the cost often falls hardest on voters who have been historically disenfranchised. In many states with strict voter ID laws, it isn’t enough to show any kind of ID. The rules typically require a very specific form of government-issued photo identification that exactly matches your name, address and sometimes even your appearance. Common forms of ID that many people have — like a student ID, government employee badge or birth certificate — often don’t qualify. In Texas, for example, a handgun license is accepted to vote, but a student ID from a public university is not. In North Dakota, voters must present an ID with a residential street address, keeping some Native Americans who live on reservations or those who use P.O. boxes from voting. In Wisconsin, a mismatched address or a missing middle initial can be enough to have a ballot rejected. A 2024 University of Maryland survey found that 21 million eligible U.S. citizens — nearly one in ten — don’t have a valid driver’s license, the most commonly accepted form of voter ID. Additionally, 28.6 million eligible voters have a valid driver’s license that does not match their current name and address, which can be enough to deny voters in states with stricter laws. These hurdles don’t affect everyone equally.