For years, I've been demanding voter/citizenship identification to register or cast a vote. That's a problem here... but not in Mexico. Why?

There's a real irony here: all of the whining and sniveling the left and democrats do over the idea of a common sense requirement to prove citizenship to register to vote and identity TO vote?

Why is none of that a problem in Mexico?  Does their government discriminate against Mexicans, or the poor?

Mexico's national voter IDs part of culture

By David Agren, Special for USA TODAY

Updated 1/25/2012 1:18 AM

MEXICO CITY – Office worker Ana Martínez lined up at 7 a.m. on a recent Sunday to renew her voter credential, a document required at a polling station to vote.

EnlargeClose

But voting was not the main reason she was getting it. The free photo ID issued by the Federal Electoral Institute had become the accepted way to prove one's identity — and is a one-card way to open a bank account, board an airplane and buy beer.

Voting was almost an afterthought to Martínez.

"They ask for it everywhere," she said. "It's very difficult to live without it."

National IDs for voting, or proving citizenship, is an idea that is being floated in the United States to crack down on voter fraud, illegal immigration and foreign terrorists.

Proponents, such as the Federation for American Immigration Reform, say it is an efficient way to verify identities and prevent crime. Opponents, such as the American Civil Liberties Union, describe it as an invasion of privacy. Minority advocacy groups have even alleged that the cards would frighten minorities going to the polls.

But Mexico has not seen many problems with its card, and national identity cards have been issued for years in France, Poland, Singapore, Brazil, to prove citizenship.

Boosts country's democracy

Mexican officials unveiled the voting ID two decades ago to properly identify electors in a country with a history of voters casting multiple ballots and curious vote counts resulting in charges of fraud — most notoriously in 1988 when a computer crash wiped out early results favoring the opposition.

The credential proved so good at guaranteeing the identification of electors that it became the country's preferred credential, one now possessed by just about every adult Mexican. Its widespread acceptance deepened democracy, too, by giving credibility to the Federal Electoral Institute, analysts say. The agency was created as an independent agency to oversee federal elections.

"It's a very important prop for support of that institution," said Federico Estévez, political science professor at the Autonomous Technological Institute of Mexico. "What people really know about (the electoral institute) is the card."

The card must be renewed every 10 years. This meant thousands of Mexicans whose cards were expiring had to apply for a new one prior to Jan. 15 if they wanted to vote in the July 1 presidential election, prompting long lines outside agency service centers.

People in the lines were clutching folders of documents needed for renewal: a birth certificate, another form of photo identification and a recent utility bill.

Unlike Mexico, whose voting rules are set by the federal government, the United States leaves many voting requirements up to individual states.

More:

Why?

How is it that a REALLY "advanced" democracy like Mexico has enough sense to require these forms of identification... but the United States not only refuses, but they routinely violate the 10th Amendment in attacking those states who do?

I remember the fringe leftists babbling about other militaries allowing the openly gay to infest their ranks... well, what about this?