{"id":5437,"date":"2011-07-22T00:16:21","date_gmt":"2011-07-22T07:16:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=5437"},"modified":"2011-07-22T00:16:21","modified_gmt":"2011-07-22T07:16:21","slug":"editorial-getting-a-voter-id","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2011\/07\/22\/editorial-getting-a-voter-id\/","title":{"rendered":"Editorial: Getting a Voter ID"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Tom122007_Painting_Painting\"In states all over our nation Republicans are instituting strict voter ID laws as part of their overall strategy to disenfranchise poor and minority voters.  They make it appear quite reasonable, saying it is easy to get a voter ID, but is it?  For elderly, disabled and poor Americans, it can prove a daunting challenge.  A recent personal experience sheds light on the issue.<\/font><\/p>\n

I lost my wallet, and with it, my government ID card, Social Security card, Medicare card, health plan card, debit card and credit card.  Arranging for the replacement of all but the first two was easy to do over the telephone.  I know to take my birth certificate to the Social Security office to replace that card.<\/font><\/p>\n

My government ID card is an Oregon ID, issued by the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to people who do not drive.  On occasion my COPD is sufficiently severe for me to lose consciousness for a few seconds, and I will not put others at risk.  I visited the DMV website to see what I needed to bring.  I\u2019m a fairly bright fellow, and the legalese was so thick that Michele Bachmann\u2019s brain scan would be more lucid.  I figured out what I could and called my local DMV office.  I explained to the clerk that my Social Security card was in my lost wallet.  He explained that, if I have correspondence from the Social Security Administration that has my name, address and SSN, I could bring that.<\/font><\/p>\n

This morning I boarded a bus to the DMV, five minutes away, armed with my birth certificate, my Social Security tax information letter for 2010, and my cell phone bill.  Several hours later, and $40.50 lighter, I left with a temporary Oregon ID.  The permanent will be mailed in a couple weeks.  It would appear that my experience supports the Republican position, but hold on.  There\u2019s more to this.<\/font><\/p>\n

I am well organized, could pay the fee, and live in a big city.  My original birth certificate was lost over forty years ago.  I never needed it, because I always had my drivers license.  But I needed to replace it, when I applied for SSDI a few years back.  My birth certificate from NJ cost me $60 and took six months to receive.  That could delay getting a government ID for months.  Also, if I were not receiving Social Security, I would not have the tax information letter.  That is another obstacle to people who are below retirement age.  If I were poorer than I am, I would be unable to pay the fee.  In addition, my DMV office is five minutes away by bus.  For Americans who do not drive, live many miles from the office that issues the ID, and have no public transportation to get there, going could be a huge impediment.<\/font><\/p>\n

Finally, I live in one of the most progressive states in the country.  ID laws here are not draconian, intended to disenfranchise voters, like the ones Republicans are passing.  In fact, when I was at DMV, three different clerks offered to register me to vote, if I was not already registered.  I asked one how poor people, who can not pay, can get an ID.  She said there are programs to help, but did not know who to call or where to go.  If getting an ID here could be that hard, complaints about the Republican laws are spot-on.  They must be opposed.<\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In states all over our nation Republicans are instituting strict voter ID laws as part of their overall strategy to disenfranchise poor and minority voters.  They make it appear quite reasonable, saying it is easy to get a voter ID, but is it?  For elderly, disabled and poor Americans, it can prove a daunting challenge.  […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5437","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-editorial","category-politics","category-19-id","category-5-id","post-seq-1","post-parity-odd","meta-position-corners","fix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5437","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5437"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5437\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}