When President Obama was in Austin for a music festival, he said: “We’re the only advanced democracy in the world that makes it harder for people to vote.” He talked about barriers politicians put up that “make it as hard as possible for our citizens to vote.”

I must admit, I do not know what he is talking about. Let’s start with a requirement to show a photo ID. I don’t consider that a barrier to voting, but let’s for the sake of argument say that it is. Derek Hunter tracked down the research and concluded that a third (35%) of states have no requirement that voters must show ID to vote. Another fourth (24%) accept secondary proof (such as a utility bill) to prove who they are. Only one fifth of states (20%) have a strict photo ID requirement, and the Obama Justice department has tried rescind some of these requirements.

Another possible barrier is the requirement that a citizen vote on a particular day. But that so-called barrier is fast disappearing. In the past, we had absentee voting. Now we have “no excuse” absentee voting and early voting that makes it very convenient. In fact, three-fourths of the states now open the polls days or even weeks before the actual Election Day. That doesn’t seem like much of a barrier to me.

Another possible barrier might be that sometimes you have to wait in line. Frankly, I have never had that problem when I have used early voting. But I have heard of people having to wait in line to vote. But let’s put this in context. Most of us have had to wait in very long lines at the DMV or perhaps at airports. We may not have liked the wait, but you couldn’t really call that an unjust barrier to getting a license or boarding an airplane. A long line should not be considered an unjust barrier to voting.

I disagree with the president. I don’t think we make it so hard to vote. Most people don’t vote because they are apathetic, not because we erect insurmountable barriers to voting.