It's hard to build it, but some countries (like mine) have universal government-issued IDs, called identity cards. You get your ID card when you turn 14 (voting starts at 18), based on your birth certificate, or when you become a legal citizen through immigration. This ID card includes a photograph, and has to be changed every ~10 years (slightly more often at first, slightly less often as you age). Whenever the government wants to confirm your identity, you present this card, including elections. On election day, if your ID card is lost/stolen, you can get one at any police station within the same day (if both your ID card and your birth certificate are also lost, however, that is going to take far more time to get back and get a new ID, and you will not be able to vote - which is a problem, but it affects very few people, fortunately).
This whole system is easy to maintain if you've had it in place. However, it's very hard to emit ID cards for a whole population that hasn't had one before. I'm not suggesting this is an easy fix for the USA, even beyond the cultural issues that would arise if trying to do a federal ID for every citizen like this.
This whole system is easy to maintain if you've had it in place. However, it's very hard to emit ID cards for a whole population that hasn't had one before. I'm not suggesting this is an easy fix for the USA, even beyond the cultural issues that would arise if trying to do a federal ID for every citizen like this.