President Donald Trump used an odd example Tuesday night to call for stronger voter ID laws, saying that identification is required for buying groceries.
There is no such requirement.
“We believe that only American citizens should vote in American elections, which is why the time has come for voter ID, like everything else. Voter ID,” Trump told the crowd of supporters gathered at the Florida State Fairgrounds.
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“You know, if you go out and you want to buy groceries, you need a picture on a card, you need ID,” Trump continued. “You go out and you want to buy anything, you need ID and you need your picture.”
He added that “the only time you don’t need it in many cases is when you want to vote for a president, when you want to vote for a senator, when you want to vote for a governor or a congressman. It’s crazy.”
Photo ID is required when purchasing alcohol or cigarettes, and occasionally when verifying purchases made with a credit card. In a small number of states, identification photos are included on food stamp cards for low income families, and several chains, such as Costco, may require identification when applying for membership.
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Asked about the remark Wednesday afternoon, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said Trump was referring to liquor purchases.
“If you go to a grocery store and you buy beer or wine, you’re certainly going to show your ID,” Sanders said. “He’s not saying every time he went in. He said, ‘When you go to the grocery store.’ I’m pretty sure that everybody in here who’s been to a grocery store that’s purchased beer or wine has probably had to show their ID. If they didn’t, then that’s probably a problem with the grocery store.”
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Trump has repeatedly railed against a “rigged” system that he claims, without evidence, allows people to vote illegally. A widely criticized commission Trump established to look into the matter dissolved in January due to what the White House described as “endless legal battles at taxpayer expense.”
CNN’s Betsy Klein and Eric Bradner contributed to this report.
