Does your country require ID to vote?

43 comments

1. That depends on in what way you’re thinking of ID.

   Up to an election, the municipalities will mail out voting cards to all who are eligible to vote in said election. This voting card is then exchanged for a ballot at the polling station. Does such a voting card count as ID?

   If you don’t have a voting card, maybe you lost yours, or you moved adress right up to an election, so your voting card was sent to the wrong place, you can still be given a ballot, by identifying yourself using your Central Personal Register number, which is your birthday followed by a four-digit combination. You will also need some proof of this being your CPR, a passport, national health insurance card, drivers license or so on.

   So, do you need to show some _specific_ form of ID when voting? Not necessarily. But you do need to prove, in one way or another, that you’re eligible to vote.

2. In Slovakia, YES. Every entitled voter (Slovak National, >= 18 yrs) needs to identify himself. But everybody gets his ID card at the age of 15 AFAIK, so there is no controversy whatsoever… And you can use your ID card or passport.

3. Basically yes. Law requires several things:

   * you have to register your address as your seat of residence
   * you have to own an ID

   The combination of those two things means that you’re automatically registered to vote and get a letter in the mail when and where to vote, and you always have an ID that you can then show when you vote so they can check that it’s really you.

   However, to be really precise, if somebody doesn’t have an ID, they still have the right to vote. But checking their identity can be tricky, and it may be necessary to call the police and have them check that the person really is the right person, like they would do with a person they arrest who doesn’t carry an ID.

   That takes time and barely ever happens because most people think you strictly need an ID to vote, but technically, you don’t.

4. Yes, you need your personal ID that every adult is required to have, this is a proof that you’re indeed yourself so there’s no fake votes in someone’s name. I actually wonder how that’s not a problem in countries where ID isn’t required.

5. There is a citizen register that everybody is registered in for every municipality. So the municipality just takes that data and derives the voting lists. If you ddo the normal voting in your area you go to the assigned voting office where you have to present ID to the voting commission and then get your ballot. So no you don’t need ID to get registered but you need it to cast your vote.

6. I am president of a Polling Station in Italy, to vote you must show the “Voting Card” which is a document valid for many elections. At every election a stamp is put on it. When it’s complete you go to your municipality and ask for a new one. During election days if you have lost your voting card they will give you a temporary one immediately. Then you must show a document: an ID card/Passport/driving license etc.. We check that you actually are enlisted in that Polling Station, and we put the number of the voting card and the ID in the register that the municipality gives us. Your name must be there.

7. No. Citizens get the ballots by mail, fill them out and send them back. If you’re not a citizen you won’t get ballots.

   And yes, our votes and elections are usually 95% or more mail-in votes. The only reason to not vote by mail is if you forgot to mail it in time, in that case you have to bring them to the municipality by yourself.

8. In Austria the government sends the “voting-information” to every citizen who is allowed to vote via mail.
   At the election you have to take this information and an ID (passport, driving license, ID card etc) and there you exchange it with the ballot.
   You can also vote via mail. You have to fill out a form, then you get the ballot via mail and send it back to the city counsil.

9. Finland: I receive my “permit to vote” in the mail, and I’ll bring that plus an id card, passport, driver’s license “or other proof of identity” to the voting place. This is something everyone pretty much has, unless they’ve failed to renew their previous one.

   Voting is also always possible both during the main voting day, as well as early voting: your working shifts or ability to physically travel to a voting place doesn’t stop anyone from voting.

10. Yes. You get a voter card in the mail, you have to take the card and a valid form of ID (so drivers license, ID or passport) to the place where you are going to vote.

    Legally you are required to always carry some form of ID when you are not at home, and I don’t think anybody over the age of 12 without a passport or ID is common at all.

11. Everyone gets sent their polling card a few weeks before going to vote. That has your name, address & information about where to go to vote. Then on the day you have to bring that and your ID.

12. You need to identify yourself in some way to ensure you have the right to vote, but not necessarily with a physical ID. Another person could vouch for you or such.

    If you want to vote prematurely you also need your voting card.

13. Yes.

    Every citizen above the age of 12 is obligated to have an ID, and you need to show it in the Voting Center when you go to vote.

14. No. You have to register to vote. Then you go to the polling station on election day and tell them your name and address, they cross you off the list, hand you a ballot paper, and you vote. A few weeks before the election, polling cards are sent to each voter in the post, with the date of the election, and the location and opening hours of your polling station, but you don’t need to show that to vote.

15. How are we the worst? This is a problem when a country is too big and full of people with malicious agendas.

    For those Europeans, it varies on state in the USA. 22 plus DC out of 50 states have something automatic and it is mostly through the Department of Motor Vehicles. In my state of Virginia(Eastern mid Atlantic near the capitol), this is how it works as you can opt in to register to vote or change an address. A drivers license is $32 and in most states it’s between $20 and $50. We had no photo ids, then in 2012 we had photo ids, and then when the Democrats came into power we wouldn’t have photo ids. 18 states are really strict with photo ids. You could move to a different state and have wildly different rules. Because driver licenses are for people that driver and for people that drink, the elderly minority population that ride the bus are at a disadvantage. When they can’t drive or afford to, they don’t renew.

    Everywhere you do have to identify yourself but the rules vary wildly. It is like this in America because it is wildly inefficient. There is always one dick hole in power complaining about election integrity being a widespread problem when in reality it is one vote out of several millions.

16. For elections, you get a mail invitation which you bring with you to the polls with a passport, driving license or ID, to prove it’s actually you, yes.

    Then you leave a signature where your name is written on a list of registered voters in your area/region. Your invitation has the address of the polling station.

    Something like that..

17. ID and residency card

    But since you are obliged to bring your ID everywhere everytime this is nothing special

18. In the Netherlands you have to register at the municipality the address where you live (has to be done within a couple of days after moving). When there’s an election, the municipality will sent a letter to every one that is eligible to vote. With that letter and your id, which will be checked, you can vote.

19. Yes, and it is compulsory to have an ID-card anyways (passport is optional).

    Online voting also uses the ID-card reader or mobile-ID for identification.

20. Voting in Luxembourg is mandatory for all citizens and everyone has an ID card. If I recall correctly you do need to present that card at the Ballot though. Student cards and or drivers licenses might suffice though.

21. You register at your place of residence when you move there and show your documents and proof of citizenship; basically a piece of paper saying “This person, born on [date], social security no. [number] is a citizen of this municipality”. (Swiss citizenship is tied to one municipality. Most people have never ever been to theirs, because it’s inherited in the family over generations, even after moving. Unless you’re naturalised, in that case it’s the municipality where you did the naturalisation process.)

    Then your municipality of recidence gives you a paper saying “this person is resident of our municipality”.

    You also should have an ID, but you need that for all kind of things. You get that at the office for IDs and passsports. I don’t know what is required to get that one in the first place, honestly. When in doubt, I think you can always go to your municipality of citizenship and they can give you all the documents you need.

    And once you’re registered at your place of residence, you get all voting ballots sent to your home. These include a paper saying “this person has the right to vote”, and you either sign it and send that in with the ballots, or you show it when you go to the urn in person. But most people do it by mail.

22. In Ireland, you have to register your address and you’re sent a ticket style thing with your name on it. You exchange this at your polling station for a ballot, and while you may be asked to prove your identity, I’ve never heard of it happening

23. Yes, you need an ID to vote and it’s free and compulsory to get when you turn 15. You can always automatically vote at your residence’s voting station or you can apply to vote somewhere else.

24. Yes, you need a photo ID to vote which can be a passport or a national ID card, your residential registration and you have to hand it to the electoral committee, they one by one verify your identity, make you sign the registry and hand you the ballotts with your documents.

    This year, documents that expired after March 12, 2020 could be used to identify you as well.

    I think driver’s licenses can be used in Hungary, because you get a letter from the electoral committee to notify you about the election, the registration to vote is automatic whenever you change your main residential address, so your citizenship isn’t in question, but driver’s licenses don’t mention citizenship unlike ID cards and passports, so I’m not sure. I don’t drive, I use my ID card to vote.

25. Yes, you have to identify yourself when you come to the polling station. Having an identity card is obligatory from the age of 16 so there are no issues or controversies about someone not having one or similar.

26. No. You need to register to vote which i think you just need an address and national insurance number. Its been ages since I’ve had to register so I could be wrong. Then on the day of the vote you show up, give your name and address and vote.

27. You need a valid document (with photo) that identify as yourself, the national ID, your driver license or something else.

    This way other people cannot vote in your place nor you can vote multiple times

    You are automatically registered (you don’t have to do nothing to being able to vote) and you have to go to a specific voting poll (you can’t go and vote where you want)

    In Spain you usually go to schools to vote where there are multiple tables like this

    https://images.ecestaticos.com/eMgUx5ul7xLuoOQKtFMGMfd_PEw=/0x117:2269×1393/992×558/filters:fill(white):format(jpg)/f.elconfidencial.com%2Foriginal%2F84d%2Fd65%2F740%2F84dd65740bf766cefbe8012ba028a71d.jpg

    You have asigned a specific table where you deposit your vote

28. As I see it, the state has to ensure that only people eligible to vote, is able to cast their vote and they only do it once.

    This is a two step proces:

    1) Find out who is eligible to vote, and where they live.
    I the US they have this ‘registered voter process’. In Denmark all residents and citizens abroad has a SSN from birth, and are registered with an address.
    The state also knows how old you are, and if you are a citizen. At each election, a paper slip is sent to the postal address of eligible voters one week in advance, with the location of where you have to vote. An 18 year old living at his parents will receive the slip even if he have not done anything to register himself anywhere in his life.

    2) At the poling station they have a register of who is allowed to vote there, and they register who has voted (to prevent double vote)
    The paper slip is prof of identity, together with knowledge of your birthday.
    If you dont have the slip than you can use drivers license, or passport as ID.

29. UK – no (Edit: Except Northern Ireland – see comment below). Most people turn up with the voter cards they received through the post (having previously added your details to the register of electors for that council – this is where eligibility to vote in the different types of elections would be verified), but the card is not necessary and you only need to state your name and address at the correct polling station to be able to vote. While this could be open to abuse, cases of recorded voter fraud across the country is extremely low, with just a few dozen cases at most. Most election fraud relates to candidates, not voters.

    Voter ID is a politically divisive issue here as we do not have national ID (beyond passports, and of course they are not compulsory unless you want to travel outside the country, or driving licences – which aren’t officially ID for anything other than driving) and consideration of voter ID/National ID leads to concerns about authoritarianism and voter suppression.

30. Yes, of course, it would be beyond dumb not to require ID to vote, I mean anyone could go voting if you lack it.

    In my country you first get a letter to your place of residence with a voting thing in it and you need to take that and your ID to go voting, it’s double safety essentially.

31. Yes, every Russian over the age of 14 must have an ID and a place of residence, which determines which polling station you are supposed to go to, but you can change the polling station online these days for national elections.

32. In England, no. You have to register to vote for your area. This requires thing like your national insurance.

    You turn up to the polling station. Stay your name, they ask you a simple security question like your road name or postcode and then you can vote.

    There had been talking with the Conservative government to introduce voter ID. Which had been a concern as disenfranchising voters since we don’t have national ID. Many people don’t drive in the country. And not everyone has passports, especially with the backlog revently. And many people don’t carry their ID or asked for it so they just don’t need it.

33. Yes.

    You receive a voting card a few weeks before the election, but it’s not an id and not mandatory to vote. I guess it’s mainly useful to know where you are supposed to vote, and because it has a number that makes it easier to find you quickly on the lists.

    When you go vote, you show your id (everyone has a national id card, but passport or driving license works too) and the voting card, they check that you are on the list, and after voting you have to sign on the list and they stamp the voting card if you have it.

34. Yes.

    You get your ID at 14 yo and you can vote with it since you turn 18. I think you can also do it with your birth certificate or passport in case your ID is in the process of being replaced or something. But don’t quote me on that.

    Edit: in local elections you can only vote if you’re registered there. So your address of residence is written on the ID.

35. Depends. If you live in a city, you need either your ID either your voting card. If you live in a small town, less than 1.000 inhabitants, you don’t need anything if you know the people who hold the voting place, though it’s usually better just in case.

36. In Ireland yes, alongside a polling card that is sent to you. This is because unless you have Irish citizenship, you cannot vote in a referendum or presidential election. But anyone 18+ can vote in locals providing they’re living here, and British citizens living in Ireland can vote in general elections and local elections. So the card identifies which ones you can and cannot vote in. These are sent out with each ballot and must be handed over at the polling station.

37. Yes. You give a passport (is still used in Transnistria), and the worker checks whether you are registered at the certain address (they collect it themselves, so no extra hussle for you). They check your presence in the book, you leave a signature and receive a ballot

38. To sum things up: the true difference between eu countries and US is not the fact that you have to identify yourself when voting, but that you don’t have to actively register somewhere to do it.
    We have lists of citizenships and documents that everyone is required to have for that and many other purposes.
    Someone in the US believe that this is too much authoritarian.

39. Yes, in Norway you need some sort of valid ID with a picture of you on it. Passport, national ID-card, drivers licence or credit card etc.

    You can get away with not showing ID if an election official knows your identity. But this will of course not be an option for so many people, and probably more prevelant in smaller places where “everyone knows everyone”.

40. In Czech Republic every citizen over 18 years old gets voting ballots by mail 1-3 weeks before elections. Then, when you go to polling station, you need to take some proof of identity – ID or passport (drivers license would probably work too) – you show it to the official who crosses you from the list and then you vote.

    If people are living in different place than they have the residence, they can go through some bureaucracy stuff, so than they can vote in place of their choosing (I am not sure if this is possible for all elections, but it surely is possible for national elections – like presidential or to the lower chamber of the parliament). I have never done it, so I don’t know what exactly it is you must do – maybe someone who knows more could expand on that?

41. You need an ID to vote because having an ID (cartão de cidadão) is what makes you get in the voting lists.

    *However*, you need not show it if there are 3 people (with theirs) who can vouch for your identity.

    Obviously, it’s much easier to bring it. However, that may not always be possible.

42. Yes. It is mandatory to present your ID on voting day.

    We actually have a form of “mandatory voting”, thought in reality it’s more of a “mandatory showing up duty”. Not showing up at the polling station will risk you a fine. If, however, you show your ID and then just go home without voting, that’s okay.

43. Yes, but you don’t need to register, you get your voting ticket (used to quickly find you in their lists, it is not required but will speed up the process) sent out to you by mail, you go to the polling station, pick ballots from each party (they are often in public view, yes it is dumb, so to preserve voting anonymity you grab one ballot from each party) to take with you into the booth, you take your three ballots (we have a tripple election every election, national, regional and local governments) you want to vote with, mark a candidate on it if you want a specific candidate then seal the ballots in individual envelopes, you take the three envelopes and go to the election functionaries, hive them your voting ticket, your ID card and your three envelopes, the envelopes have small cutouts so you can see the colour of the ballot inside but nothing more, the color define what election that ballout should go to, white, blue and yellow, one functionary redies the envelopes and hold each envelope in the slit in turn, and when the other functionary have found you the first starts dropping the envelopes into the urn while saying “voted white”, “voted yellow”, “voted blue”, this is done as each envelope is dropped in to the urn, and as the first functionary says this second marks it on the list, this is to prevent error in the log.