What's the big deal with voter ID?

8 questions every Albertan should ask themselves, their friends, and their MLAs about Bill 20

Last week, I raised concerns over the voter ID laws embedded in the UCP’s Bill 20.

I won’t rehash those here, but you can check out the post if you want the supporting evidence for what follows here.

In the ensuing conversations over voter ID, I’ve found a lot of everyday Albertans are indifferent to the issue of requiring everyone to produce photo identification to vote.

Below are eight (8) important questions we should ask ourselves before we jump to the conclusion that this is no big deal.

Question 1: What problem does voter ID solve?

Proponents of voter ID gesture to the importance of “election integrity”. This is based on the feeling that a system without that requirement is inherently lax. That sentiment is based on misinformation, not based on evidence of widespread voter fraud. The system works, and changing it in a way that disenfranchises thousands of Albertans ought to require more than hunches and anecdotes.

Question 2: Just how easy is it to get photo ID if you don’t have it?

Here, I’d ask you to do a little homework for yourself. Imagine that you’ve lost your driver’s licence and, like a third of Canadians, you don’t have a passport. You need photo ID to vote under Bill 20.

• Where would you go to get that ID? (Hint: registry agents are not easily accessible to the folks least likely to have ID.)

• What sort of documentation would you need to bring? (Hint: At minimum, you need to have a permanent address and a credit card or a utility bill in your own name, plus a birth certificate or some federally-issued proof of your residence.)

It may be easy for you, personally, to replace your ID if you lose it. But it’s not so easy for everyone, especially those who don’t have proof of ID in the first place. That includes anywhere from 10,000 to 50,000 Albertans — the population of many small cities. Vouching helps them exercise their right to vote.

Question 3: Will voter ID stop non-citizens from voting?

Again, there’s no evidence of non-citizens voting en mass in Alberta elections. Nonetheless, unless you want everyone to present passports at the polling station, voter ID won’t help. Fact is: non-citizens qualify for most forms of photo ID, including driver’s licenses. A federally-issued passport is the only form of photo ID that proves you are a citizen. So voter ID won’t solve that imagined problem, either, unless you want the federal government to verify who’s eligible to vote in Alberta elections.

Question 4: Who could possibly be against voter ID?

According to the government’s own survey, only 30 percent of Albertans favour measures like Bill 20 that would ban vouching. 46 percent want to keep it. This level of support is likely rooted in the fact that over 100,000 Albertans have vouched or been vouched for in previous elections (again, from the government’s own LAEA survey last fall).

Question 5: What is “vouching,” anyway?

Vouching requires someone with photo ID to verify the identity of someone else, and for the vouchee to sign a legal document attesting to their own identity. Two people would need to conspire in order to cheat this system, which is why we see so little evidence of abuse. It’s unclear why the government wants to ban this popular process.

Question 6: What is the push for voter ID laws really about?

Numerous conversations with Albertans over the last few days reveal that some have a genuine fear that our elections are somehow subject to fraud unless we have ID. According to evidence, they’re not (see Question 1). But the feeling — cultivated by a second set of people — is real. For this small but vocal segment, obtaining photo ID is proof that someone is “responsible”, “smart”, or “qualified” enough to cast a ballot. Those types of standards are worrisome for those of us whose grandparents were excluded from voting for the same reasons, or whose families fought wars and waged protests to protect the right to vote. We don’t buy that disinformation, but understand how others might.

Question 7: Whose burden is it?

Canada’s system of election administration is the envy of many other countries. To make such a fundamental change to our democratic freedoms, reformers ought to establish that there is a problem to be solved and that their solution won’t make things worse. The UCP government has done neither. They had the opportunity to make their case in the 2023 provincial election, but they did not include Bill 20 in their platform. They have the opportunity to engage meaningfully with Albertans before passing Bill 20, but they have said they will not.

Which leads us to the final question:

Question 8: Why is the UCP moving forward with voter ID laws?

For that answer, see my previous post.