Most Americans are simply unaware of how weak and haphazard our voter ID and absentee ballot laws are compared to those in other countries.  I want to do a quick overview of U.S. laws and then compare them to those in Europe, Canada, and Mexico.

According to Ballotpedia, 15 states do not require voter ID for in-person voting.  Republicans control the state legislatures in three of the states (NE, NC & PA), there is split legislative control in Minnesota, and the remaining 11 states (OR, CA, NV, NM, IL, MD, NJ, NY, MA, VT & ME) all have Democrat control.

At the other end of the spectrum, there are 20 states that have photo ID requirements for in-person voting.  Two states have Democrat-controlled legislatures (WA & RI), while all the remaining 18 (ID, MT, WY, SD, KS, TX, AR, LA, TN, MS, AL, GA, SC, FL, MI, NH, IN & WI) have Republican-controlled legislatures.  The remaining 15 states (AZ, UT, CO, ND, OK, IA, MO, KY, OH, WV, VA, DE, CT, AK & HI) have non-photo ID document requirements.

For absentee voting, Ballotpedia notes that there are three U.S. models: (1) automatically mail ballots to every registered voter, (2) provide absentee ballots upon request if a statutory excuse has been established by the qualified voter, and (3) provide absentee ballots to any registered voter who requests one.

There are eight states who automatically mail absentee ballots to all registered voters without request.  Seven have Democrat-controlled state legislatures (HI, WA, OR, CA, NV, CO & VT), and one (UT) has Republican control.  There are 16 states that provide absentee ballots if a statutory excuse has been proven.  Four have Democrat-controlled state legislatures (DE, NY, CT & MA), and the remaining 12 (TX, LA, AR, MO, IN, KY, WV, TN, AL, MS, SC & NH) have Republican control.  The remaining 26 states provide absentee ballots to any registered voter who requests one.  I am not aware of any U.S. state that prohibits providing an absentee ballot to an in-state or in-country resident.

Only seven states (AL, KS, ND, OH, PA, SD & WI) require any proof of identity when applying for an absentee ballot.  Republicans hold a majority in both state legislative chambers in each of these states.

How do our voter ID and absentee ballot laws compare to those in Europe, Canada, and Mexico?  Be prepared for a shock.

John Lott, Jr., Ph.D. has done the heavy lifting in compiling voting laws in other countries.  Here is what his research has found.

Of the 47 countries in Europe, a staggering 46 require government-issued photo IDs for in-person voting.  The only exception is the United Kingdom, where a photo ID is required for national elections in Northern Ireland but not for Scotland, Wales, and England.  Both Canada and Mexico require a government-issued photo ID.  Mexico goes a step farther by making its ID biometric with both photo and fingerprints.

European, Canadian, and Mexican absentee ballot laws are much more restrictive than ours.  None automatically sends absentee ballots to all registered voters.

Of the 27 nations in the European Union, only five give absentee ballots to any qualified voter who requests one.  In 18 of the countries (67%), absentee ballots are only provided to citizens living abroad.  A photo ID is required to obtain an absentee ballot in 11 of the countries (47%).  A whopping 25 of the 27 (93%) either do not permit people living in the country to vote absentee or require a photo ID to get an absentee ballot.

In the 16 European countries that are not members of the E.U., absentee ballot rules are equally tough if not tougher.  Only two provide absentee ballots to any qualified voter who requests one.  Fourteen of the 16 countries (88%) provide absentee ballots only to citizens living abroad.  In five of the countries, a photo ID is required to obtain an absentee ballot.  All (100%) of the countries either do not allow absentee voting for people living in the country or require a photo ID to get an absentee ballot.

In Canada, any eligible voter can request an absentee ballot, but a government-issued picture ID is necessary to obtain it.  In Mexico, absentee ballots are only provided to citizens living abroad, and a photo ID must be shown to get it.

Our democracy will be imperiled if we lose confidence that our elections, and we will lose confidence in our elections if we believe that vote counts are fraudulent.

Joseph Goebbels once said: "The most brilliant propagandist technique will yield no success unless one fundamental principle is borne in mind constantly — it must confine itself to a few points and repeat them over and over."  This has been the Democrat party's playbook to convince Americans that it is racist to require in-person or absentee voters to prove who they are.

So what should we do with this information?  We should challenge the Democrat narrative that demanding government-approved photo IDs is racist.  Here are some suggestions:

1. Download Dr. Lott's full reports and study them.

2. Whenever you see a local TV news or local newspaper report parroting the Democrat line that demanding a picture ID to vote is racist, email copies of Dr. Lott's report and ask the question: "If Mexico, Canada, and 46 of 47 countries in Europe demand a photo ID to vote, why is it racist to demand a photo ID to vote in the U.S.?"

3. In Mexico and the majority of countries in Europe, absentee ballots are given only to qualified voters living abroad.  In other words, there is a great preference to have in-person voting for in-country residents.  Why do you think that is?

4. If there is no photo ID for in-person or absentee voting, how can we be certain that the vote is not fraudulent?

5. Send letters to the editor and write guest op-ed articles for your local paper challenging the official Democrat party narrative.

6. Challenge corrupt politicians to explain why requiring a government to issue a photo ID to vote is racist.

You get the idea.  Fight back.

Photo credit: GPA Photo Archive CC BY-NC 2.0 license.