General Discussion

cynatnite

(31,011 posts) Thu Sep 13, 2012, 07:34 PM Sep 2012

The hardship of obtaining an ID in order to vote...

I had to do an address change in order to vote. I opted to drive to the election board which is about 15-20 miles away. I got my form, filled it out and turned it in. Very simple and easy.

Today, I got my new voter ID card. The form with it stated that TN law will require that every voter who votes in person has to present a state or federal govt. issued photo ID in order to vote.

The good repubs here in the state of TN said that if you do not have the necessary ID, you can get it at no cost. That's great, isn't it?

Well, probably not so much if you don't have a car. You see, the place we go here for an ID is outside of our city limits. It's a good 10 miles out of town and what passes for public transportation here does not go to the TN Dept of Safety. It leaves people who don't have cars such as the poor and the old who don't drive out of luck unless they can find a ride.

So, if you are able to find a ride and can afford the gas to get there you've got a list of items that are required in order to get an ID. They're very strict and time and time again I've seen them send people home who need to do something as simple as renewing their licenses.

They do have a list of those who are exempt. It's basically all those folks who are unable to get to a voting location, those with a religious objection to being photographed. The others who are exempt are the indigent AND unable to obtain a photo ID without paying a fee.

Now, the question is then asked, "What if I don't bring a photo ID to the polling place?" If you are not exempt, you must vote with a provisional ballot. Good news, right?

Well, that is until they inform you that you have 2 business days after the election to return to the county election commission office (which is about 15 - 20 miles away) to show a valid photo ID. Isn't that nice of them?

Of course, they remind you once again that if you don't have one it's free at the TN Dept of Safety, but in our area, you've gotta be able to get there.

Nice, huh?

Here in TN, Rmoney's got the state in the bag, but they still want to make it as impossible as they can legally get away with. I suppose it's for all those other areas like Memphis and Nashville where there are strong Dem areas so they can get more of a strangle hold on the state.

Oh, and FYI. No instances of voter fraud that I can find in TN.

6 replies

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Highlight:

The hardship of obtaining an ID in order to vote... (Original Post) cynatnite Sep 2012 OP

They know quite well how much difficulty that will present ... surrealAmerican Sep 2012 #1

It's worse in PA. We've got about 9% of the population without IDs (mostly Democrats). HopeHoops Sep 2012 #2

The difficulty here is compounded by the distance and lack of public transportation.... cynatnite Sep 2012 #3

The GOP knows that. Hence the new law. HopeHoops Sep 2012 #5

Yeah, same with our VA cards, too. n/t cynatnite Sep 2012 #4

Those don't qualify for ID. HopeHoops Sep 2012 #6

surrealAmerican

(11,362 posts)

1. They know quite well how much difficulty that will present ...

Reply to cynatnite (Original post)

Thu Sep 13, 2012, 07:40 PM

Sep 2012

... to people of limited means and transportation. In fact, they're counting on it keeping people who would be legally entitled to vote from being able to vote.

HopeHoops

(47,675 posts)

2. It's worse in PA. We've got about 9% of the population without IDs (mostly Democrats).

Reply to cynatnite (Original post)

Thu Sep 13, 2012, 08:03 PM

Sep 2012

You can't even get an ID card from PennDOT without your birth certificate and SS card. Then there's getting to one. This is all about voter suppression, but PA's still going to go to Obama, despite Turzai's claim that the voter suppression act will give the state to rMoney. He can't win here legitimately.

On Edit: Veteran's ID cards don't qualify because they don't have an expiration date. There's some fucking patriotism for you.

cynatnite

(31,011 posts)

3. The difficulty here is compounded by the distance and lack of public transportation....

Reply to HopeHoops (Reply #2)

Thu Sep 13, 2012, 08:09 PM

Sep 2012

To get renewed last time, I had to bring my birth certificate and a utility bill in my name. If the water had been in my husbands like the electricity is, then I would also have had to bring a marriage license.

I do think the distance and lack of decent public transportation to where we have to get an ID makes it pretty much impossible...even if they have the certificate and the SS card. It's getting there that's a hardship.

Either way, it's all so screwed up.