(Here is why it’s blatantly stupid to argue that closed primaries are worse than Voter ID laws. Also if you are saying this, you are almost definitely a white person living comfortably. Congratulations on your life.)
Closed primaries require that you register with a party in advance of voting in that primary. Sometimes as early as months before, sometimes the day of. The point of this is to prevent insurgent voting and so the party can choose the strongest candidate for the general election. If you are not eligible to vote in a closed primary, it’s because for whatever reason, you have not declared a party affiliation. If you don’t want to declare a party nomination, that’s fine, but you can’t be mad when that party excludes you. We also don’t let foreigner nationals vote in our elections. Finally, and most importantly, this has no effect on the general (read: real) election.
Voter ID laws are a whole different story. Requiring photo ID to vote sounds like a reasonable countermeasure to voter impersonation. Except that voter impersonation is exceedingly rare. So it’s a countermeasure to a non-issue. It’s like requiring that all Colombians own fur coats. Yeah, they would need them if it got cold, but it’s almost certainly not going to happen and many people can’t afford to buy them.
So apart from being stupid, why are voter ID laws bad? Well because not everyone has ID. And if right now you’re saying “wait doesn’t everyone have a driver’s license they can just pull out it’s no big deal,” I again congratulate you on being a rich white person. The fact is that getting government ID is difficult, expensive, and time-consuming. If your situation is relatively comfortable, this seems like not a big deal, you take a half-day at work, head over to the safety deposit box to grab your birth certificate, then to the DMV, fill out a few forms, pay a couple fees, and in just a few hours you have a government photo ID. But what about a poor single mom with two minimum wage jobs working to support her kids? Can she afford to take a half-day from work? And spend money on fees to get the necessary documents? (hint: she probably can’t) What if she shows up and discovers that her ID isn’t sufficient and will have to take even more time off to get other documents? (At a later time I may research exactly what it takes and costs to get the necessary ID) And of course, these poor people who can’t afford to get the ID they need? yeah, disproportionately minorities.
So in summary, you missed the primary because you didn’t check a box on a form, she misses the general because she is too poor to afford getting the required ID, despite unquestionably being eligible to vote. Check your privilege.
Unpopular Opinons and Random Stuff 