This commenter breaks down the dilemma like ATOM PARTICLES: “When you register to vote, your citizenship, residence and eligibility are verified. A card is mailed to your verified address which you present when you vote. Your signature is checked to make sure it matches the one on file. New cards are mailed every 2
years generally — with DO NOT FORWARD. So if you moved, died, or are in jail, the voter card comes back UNDELIVERABLE and you are removed from the rolls.

Adding an additional photo ID requirement prevents a situation that does not exist…you have stolen an eligible voters card and are IMPERSONATING that person — in the same precinct — and you are the same race, sex and general age group — AND can forge that person’s signature — and in states where you register by party — you have to vote for the same candidate the person would have voted for anyway — and hope that the person whose card you stole didn’t obtain a replacement and is standing behind you in line — or already voted. This sequence of events has happened in less than 10 cases nationwide over a multiyear period. But the GOP fans the flames of useful paranoia Multiple rumors of sightings of buses bringing “people who don’t look American” to polling locations. But not a single photo or license number — But such photo ID laws do impact about 11% of currently registered voters. And that 11% is heavily made up of students, big city dwellers who don’t own or need a car, the elderly who no longer drive, the poor, minorities, minimum wage workers with no car and no way to get to the DMV Mon-Fri 9-5. (Here in Texas we have only 81 DMV offices, but there are 254 counties — the one-way travel distance can be over 200 miles)

And to get your photo ID card, you need a certified copy of your birth certificate — if you haven’t seen it in years, costs about $20 to get a replacement — Most states let you obtain them by mail, but you have to send a scan of your photo ID– which you don’t have. Now there is a solution if you are caught in a loop “must have id to get birth certificate — must have birth certificate to get ID” — most states will issue your birth certificate if you present original documents IN PERSON on a case by case basis. Credit cards, bank statements, military discharge, high school or college records, electric/gas/water/cable tv bill, passport. But most of those with no photo ID would likely not have many of those other documents either. And if you have to travel to your birth state…maybe 200 miles, hopefully not 3000 miles…we know you don’t have a car…so travel by plane, train, bus all requires a photo ID — which you don’t have. You also can’t rent a car, or get a motel room without a photo ID, which you don’t have…Does any fair minded person not see the costs, inconvenience and undue burden on our most vulnerable citizens simply because they are more likely to vote Democratic?”

“Schlafly, it should be noted, isn’t the first Republican to confess the true reason for voter-identification laws. Among friendly audiences, they can’t seem to help it.

One could spend hours going through the abundant evidence that these laws are meant to discourage Democratic voting.
After the election, former Florida GOP chairman Jim Greer told The Palm Beach Post that the explicit goal of the state’s voter-ID law was Democratic suppression. “The Republican Party, the strategists, the consultants, they firmly believe that early voting is bad for Republican Party candidates,” Greer told the Post. “It’s done for one reason and one reason only … ‘We’ve got to cut down on early voting because early voting is not good for us,’” he said. Indeed, the Florida Republican Party imposed a host of policies, from longer ballots to fewer precincts in minority areas, meant to discourage voting. And it worked. According to one study, as many as 49,000 people were discouraged from voting in November 2012 as a result of long lines and other obstacles.” (Daily Beast)