Voter ID Requirement, National ID

[Coriolis]

The way things are handled over here (which obviously isn't the only way to do it but works out quite well):

Every citizen 16 years old and over has a national ID card. That ID card currently costs 37 Euros (it was 28.80 Euros until this year). It has a photo and an electronic chip in it and is hard to fake. You can get it from any citizen's office (which can be found in pretty much every neighborhood). That ID card is valid for 10 years.

When you move house, you have to register with the local citizen's office (that rule applies all over the EU). They update the address on your ID card. As soon as you are registered at an address (for which you have to present proof of residency), you are automatically elegible to vote there (if you are a citizen, for non-citizens things ar more complicated). Several weeks before an election you automatically get an invitation to vote at your local polling station. That polling station is usually in your neighborhood and staffed with volunteers (often school teachers, or so I've heard). Elections are always on a sunday. I have never heard of people having to stand in line and wait for more than a few minutes max even though electoral turnout is usually around 75%. Votes are counted as soon as polls close. You usually have the result the same night. I am not aware of voter fraud ever being a problem or any party, left or right, ever claiming voter fraud or voter intimidation.

Is the cost of this ID ever an impediment to getting one? What documentation is needed to get one, and is that difficult or costly to obtain? These are big hurdles especially for poor people, or for elderly people who may have trouble getting documents like birth certificates, depending on where they were born. What constitutes proof of residence? What do homeless people do, or people essentially living with a friend or relative and therefore not having a lease or other proof of occupancy?

 

[Red Herring]

Is the cost of this ID ever an impediment to getting one? What documentation is needed to get one, and is that difficult or costly to obtain? These are big hurdles especially for poor people, or for elderly people who may have trouble getting documents like birth certificates, depending on where they were born. What constitutes proof of residence? What do homeless people do, or people essentially living with a friend or relative and therefore not having a lease or other proof of occupancy?

I had to google the answers:

(Please remember that having a national ID is both compulsory and a legal right for every citizen!)

1. Cost as an impediment - 37 euros (45,26$) will buy you about 18 rides on the Berlin subway or 10 gallons of milk. If you are on welfare and/or indigent, you can be exempt from the fee.
2. Identification to get an ID card - You get your first ID card when you turn 16 or when you become a citizen. At that point you only need your birth certificate (or a parent with and their ID). After that you simply exchange your old ID card for a new one. If you only recently became a citizen, you need your naturalization certificate. After that you just exchange your old card for a new one. So adults, including the elderly, don't need to present their birth certificate (unless they lost their other ID in which case you can reorder your birth certificate from your place of birth. I once had to reorder my birth certificate - it cost me about 5 euros and arrived by mail within 48 hours).
3. We recently moved and had to present a document signed by our landlord to register at the new place of residence. That rule is new though (2015), so I'm not quite familiar with the details. Until recently you just said you moved and they believed you. If you live with a friend, that friend would be your "landlord" and sign the document. Homeowners are their own landlords. It's trickier for homeless people. They can get a temporary ID card (which is only valid for a few month at a time). The city state of Hamburg only recently introduce a new rule that homeless people can get a free ID card without an address at their downtown citizen's office (which is also in charge of all non-residents). Otherwise there seems to be a court decision that their ID must have a placename, but that placename can just be the name of the town or neighborhood where they tend be around (since the purpose of that data point is identification, not being able to deliver mail).

 

[Coriolis]

I had to google the answers:

(Please remember that having a national ID is both compulsory and a legal right for every citizen!)

1. Cost as an impediment - 37 euros (45,26$) will buy you about 18 rides on the Berlin subway or 10 gallons of milk. If you are on welfare and/or indigent, you can be exempt from the fee.
2. Identification to get an ID card - You get your first ID card when you turn 16 or when you become a citizen. At that point you only need your birth certificate (or a parent with and their ID). After that you simply exchange your old ID card for a new one. If you only recently became a citizen, you need your naturalization certificate. After that you just exchange your old card for a new one. So adults, including the elderly, don't need to present their birth certificate (unless they lost their other ID in which case you can reorder your birth certificate from your place of birth. I once had to reorder my birth certificate - it cost me about 5 euros and arrived by mail within 48 hours).
3. We recently moved and had to present a document signed by our landlord to register at the new place of residence. That rule is new though (2015), so I'm not quite familiar with the details. Until recently you just said you moved and they believed you. If you live with a friend, that friend would be your "landlord" and sign the document. Homeowners are their own landlords. It's trickier for homeless people. They can get a temporary ID card (which is only valid for a few month at a time). The city state of Hamburg only recently introduce a new rule that homeless people can get a free ID card without an address at their downtown citizen's office (which is also in charge of all non-residents). Otherwise there seems to be a court decision that their ID must have a placename, but that placename can just be the name of the town or neighborhood where they tend be around (since the purpose of that data point is identification, not being able to deliver mail).

I appreciate your going through the trouble to look all this up. It seems more streamined and humane than our system, where even just moving to a new state can be a problem. My own father had this trouble when he moved to my state from the one where I grew up. I still would prefer any ID required here to be free, at least unless you are replacing a lost ID.

Last question: if you move to a new town and register as a resident there, are you given a new ID that shows your new address?

 

[Red Herring]

I appreciate your going through the trouble to look all this up. It seems more streamined and humane than our system, where even just moving to a new state can be a problem. My own father had this trouble when he moved to my state from the one where I grew up. I still would prefer any ID required here to be free, at least unless you are replacing a lost ID.

Last question: if you move to a new town and register as a resident there, are you given a new ID that shows your new address?

No. They just put a sticker with your new address on it on top of the old one and seal it. That has no impact on the duration of the validity of your ID card. So your ID card does show your current address, but you get to keep your old card for the entire duration of its ten year validity. After that you need a new card with a new photo.

 

[Virtual ghost]

For general elections (the next ones are coming up this september) a new parliament is elected, half by direct mandate and half by party ballots. That parliament then elects the chancelor so that the government is guaranteed to have a working majority (if there is a reason to assume the chancelor no longer has the majority of parliament behind them, parliament can oust the chancelor with a no-confidence vote and elect a new head of government!). For checks and balances the upper house which represents the federal states proportionately (more votes for biggers states) changes a bit every time there is a state election somewhere. For major changes a bill has to pass through both houses.

It's also a multiparty system with proportional representation used to having governing coalitions and based on compromise. Theoretically every party should be able to cooperate with every other party (with the exception of the extreme right and - to a lesser point - the extreme left which are mostly shunned by everybody else)

It's not perfect, but for the most part it has worked out pretty fine so far.

I had my thoughts and posts about this and to me US system is simply insane. Since it produces presidents without support in the parliament .... and that is the movie that has to go wrong (especially without ability to have snap elections). It really is more sane to have parliament seats as electoral votes than having them as some outside mechanism. Since the whole system is more integrated and those votes have the power to take back the support for the head of state at any time. What is major check and balance that tries to make sure that things don't get too crazy. Plus here we used to have upper chamber but we abolished it, since the country is simply too small for that kind of complication. Since lower chamber is enough in combination with counts, regional councils and city councils (or even neighborhood councils in bigger cities). Plus we seem to have even more diverse and fluid multiparty system than you (for better or for worse). However that is the the main mechanism that makes sure we don't get fundamentally stuck and new political parties are pooping all the time. Especially since here system makes sure that you can get a seat in the parliament or some council with just 5% of the vote. Since regions choose more than one seat at the time. What makes sure that the parliament is more representative of the people. While US prefers this black and white (red and blue) outcomes.

 

[indra]

Chip babies. It’s the only solution.