post 9/11 there was a push to standardize all state IDs (including driver licenses, which is the form of ID most Americans carry) into a uniform standard developed by the feds.

there was enough pushback within certain states from the crank demographic that this was a federal government / mark of the beast conspiracy that many states began to resist it by refusing to comply and conform for years. it was a way to excite the base to grandstand against the federal ID.

eventually, the holdout states were told that their state IDs would not be compliant and could not be used for boarding planes. the workaround would be to maintain a passport, which does work as kind of a universal ID within the US. so this has never affected wealthier citizens in resistant states, who of course have all the right travel documents.

resistant states did ultimately offer compliant state IDs, but they cost extra and, at least at first, required applicants to travel to just one or two cities in the state to apply for one. completely unreasonable and onerous.

anyway, it's hilarious that it is still so cocked up. this is how deeply antagonistic states in the US can be towards working with each other in terms of paperwork. which, considering how deeply evil some states are towards their residents and they ways they prefer to abuse them, is par for the course.

[–] Aceivan@hexbear.net 12 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

it means its federally recognized ID not just state and has more stringent documentation requirements because of that. whole point is to federalize and standardize ID, undercut states that issue ID to undocumented migrants, etc.

But state adoption has been so slow its been pushed back over and over. Probably because even citizens often don't have all that documentation free at hand. Now they're threading that needle by still sorta-allowing non-realID people to fly but making it a guaranteed trip to TSA harassment-ville

[–] ClimateStalin@hexbear.net 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Like, what different types of documentation are people using to get their ID that gives them the non realID version?

Like, when I got my license I showed my birth certificate and a bank statement. Obviously not everyone has a birth certificate, but what is it that you give them to get a drivers license that’s not realID?

Not trying to be a dick genuinely curious about the procedure

[–] Aceivan@hexbear.net 5 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

I think the issue is mostly upgrading an existing license, getting a new license tends to be less complex since there's been less time to lose documents, change names, change addresses ,etc.

you need (in my state) to have a fair amount of documentation, not bad for most people, but enough for them to put it off because its not actually been enforced in any meaningful way until now.

Specifically:

you need a home address (unclear if there's any way to get one as a homeless person even in lib states and red states seem to be leaning towards stating it's full-on illegal)
you need extra documentation of all past name changes (if you've been married, are trans, or just have changed names for any reason, this could be a barrier)
in addition to just having a home address you need documentation of it that someone who's not on a lease or otherwise in a tenuous housing situation won't have, or even just someone that lives with a partner but none of the bills are in their name may struggle.
all your documents have to match the same home address (its pretty common to not have all that up to date)
and the rules aren't always super clear on what counts as documentation of what and what doesn't

I don't have one because I went in to get one and they required documentation of my address I didn't have on me (ironically, an existing DL counts as one form of documentation and that itself requires only one document to verify so if I changed my address and then went back the next day to change it again to a realID it would have counted despite me gaining no new documents) so now I'm in the 60% of people without it in my state

Its totally possible to have an existing ID and just keep renewing it even though you wouldn't have the docs to get a new one or a realID. In my state if you don't update your address or name all you need is to know your social security number and have an existing ID

And ofc not everyone has an existing state ID either, its somewhat common not to among certain disadvantaged communities

[–] CarlMarks@lemmygrad.ml 4 points 1 day ago

RealID has documentation requirements that amount to that needed for a passport so they can do fed things with it. And in typical American fashion, they charge you $50+ for the privilege and still don't even give you a passport, just a new driver's license.