Disenfranchised 92yo black woman sues just hours after NC gov. signs voter ID law

[csziggy]

96. It's not what is takes to register - it's the time and money to get the photo ID

It could be as simple as ordering a certified birth certificate - usually $10-25, takes a couple of weeks. That money may stretch a senior's very limited budget and those weeks could bite into the time available to register to vote.

What if you are a woman who got married? You have to get a certified copy of your marriage certificate to prove that the difference in name from your birth certificate is legal. More money, more time.

If you were married more than once, you have to get the divorce degree or a copy of your first husband's death certificate. For each marriage, for each husband. More money, more time.

In my mother's case, there had been a clerical error when her birth certificate was transferred to Alabama's computer system. When she got a new birth certificate to renew her driver's license, the birth date did not match the one she knew was correct. It took TWO YEARS for her to get that corrected. She had to order certified copies of her original Social Security application, her Navy Nurse service record and every other official record they could think of to prove that the birth date she had been using for 86 years was correct. LOTS more time and LOTS more money.

When I renewed my driver's license here in Florida which is one version of the Photo ID required to vote, I had three versions of my birth certificate (I couldn't find my originals, so ordered a new certificate, then found the old ones), my original Social Security card, and a utility bill (to prove my residence). I was hassled by the 20-something clerk because she had never seen a SS card like mine. It's the only SS card I have ever carried, the same one issued to me in the 1950s. Fortunately, the clerk at the next desk was old to enough to have seen that style. Because I didn't change my name when I married (which was a HUGE PITA in 177 when I married), I didn't have to show my marriage certificate - since it was filed with our birth certificates, I would have had to order a copy.

And here is the rub - in order to get certified copies of the needed documents, I had to have a photo ID. If I had let my DL lapse, I could not have gotten the required documents to apply for a new DL. I'm lucky - if needed my Mom could have ordered it for me since she's still alive, but that would have involved more money more time.

In Florida, a state photo ID cost $25 every time, new or renewal. So for someone just wanting a photo ID for voting in Florida often costs them a minimum of $40 - not a lot of people keep their birth certificate around or can find it when they need it. If you're making minimum wage - $7.79 an hour in Florida - that's a day's work. If you didn't realize you needed the ID before you voted and the process to order the documents and get the time to obtain a photo ID takes you 2-4 weeks, that could keep you from voting.


Another point - As a woman who had to fight to KEEP the name on my birth certificate (and who after 36 years STILL has to argue with people, my father included, to be addressed by my LEGAL name) I object to your comment "if your birth documents still have the right name on them."

Most women older than I am had little or no choice about keeping the name on their birth certificate. They were forced by culture and by the government to change their surnames to their husbands'. Now they are often penalized by the system to make it harder and more expensive to vote - nearly 100 years since women got the right to vote.