Urban Exile: Voter ID Laws Disenfranchise Many More Than Just the Homeless

by Erika McNamara

One of the very few civics lessons that high schoolers learn today is that citizens over the age of 18 may vote in U.S. elections.  It is your right and your duty as an adult citizen of the United States to vote.  Of course we all learned as well that, at first, not everyone in our country was allowed to cast a ballot.  Those rights came later through constitutional amendments.  However, today all adult citizens are divined the right to vote—or are they? There’s a growing trend—as an apparent ramp up to the 2012 elections—that has me wondering.

A new law in Wisconsin goes into effect at the beginning of 2012 that requires voters to produce valid government issued photo ID to vote in any election.  The now infamous Governor Scott Walker said that, “Requiring photo identification to vote will go a long way to eliminate the threat of voter fraud.  If you need an ID to buy cold medicine, it’s reasonable to require it to vote.”

I think Governor Walker may have been taking cough medicine when he made that statement.  He definitely did not go to undergrad with me, where there were several very popular people (names omitted to protect semi-innocent here) known to have IDs that were not real, which I am sure were used strictly for the purpose of voting.

However, Wisconsin is not the first state to require valid government issued photo ID to vote.  Currently, Georgia and Indiana mandate voters to have this type of ID.  Wisconsin and Kansas have now followed suit, and three states have amended their laws from just requiring voters to present an ID, to requiring voters to present a photo ID.  The State of Michigan does have a requirement for a photo ID, however, there is an exception that allows an individual to sign an affidavit at the polls attesting to her/his identity.

Recently, in Kentucky there were reports of a great number of homeless individuals registered to vote. Bill Johnson, a Tea-Party candidate for Kentucky Secretary of State, quipped to the Press, “No address. No voter registration.” He also said that he was “not going to be bullied by the federal government to run our elections any other way.”  Huh? Is Mr. Johnson implying he does not intend to run state elections according to laws mandated by the U.S. Constitution, the Supreme Law of the land, and allow U.S. citizens over the age of 18 to vote?

Sixteen democratic Senators have requested the U.S. Department of Justice and Eric Holder, the U.S. Attorney General, investigate the new laws. Political analysts believe that the right to vote for millions of individuals may be in jeopardy. For a quick review of who may vote and who has the right to enforce the right readers may want to check out the 26th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Soon, in many states, only those with a valid photo ID will be able to vote.  Not a big deal?  Yes it is. Not every citizen has a valid government-issued photo ID, and not everyone has the access or the means to get a valid photo ID. The League of Women Voters estimates that 18 percent of Americans older than 65 years of age, 10 percent of people with disabilities, and 15 percent of low-income voters don’t possess a photo ID. In order to exercise their constitutional right to vote, these individuals would either have to pay to obtain a photo ID, or the cash-strapped state government would need to pay to provide one to them. That’s quite a bit of expense and hassle to combat voter fraud.

In June 2011, Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz compared the photo ID laws to Jim Crow and poll taxes. She was quoted as saying,”Photo I.D. laws, we think, are very similar to a poll tax. Just look at African-American voters as a snapshot. About 25 percent of African-American voters don’t have a valid photo I.D….the reason it’s similar to a poll tax is because you’ve got the expense. You’ve got the effort.” Her remarks caused so much political backlash, she reversed herself in a later interview.

However, it’s true that a large number of students, senior citizens, racial minorities, disabled individuals, and low-income individuals do not have a valid photo ID.  There are many reasons for this, but certainly for low-income and homeless individuals there is a cost involved that is a barrier to obtaining an ID, and thus a barrier to vote in some states. There is also the embarrassment involved of having to go to the Secretary of State and declare to the government, and in front of everyone else in the waiting area, that you are homeless.

It’s clear that politicos such as Wasserman Schultz view this new voter ID law trend as a disguised attempt to further disenfranchise racial minorities, low-income and homeless individuals in our country—all by crying “voter fraud.”

Wasserman Schultz is right: Every citizen in this country should be outraged!

The United States stands a watchdog of fair elections of other countries, and our government spends million of dollars to fight for the right of other countries’ citizens to hold elections, and the rights of citizens in those countries to vote. Yet, here in the U.S. we do not have the same standards. Republican legislators in states across the country are denying millions of citizens the right to vote. Thus far, the federal government has done little to make certain that citizens of the United States are free to exercise their own rights to vote.

Just for fun let’s look at obtaining a State of Michigan ID as an U.S. citizen who does not have a permanent residence, and who is unemployed, but resides here in Michigan. First a Social Security Card is required or a document containing name and the number on it. You misplaced that card. So, how do you obtain a replacement Social Security Card?  According to the Social Security Administration, to obtain a replacement card an individual must provide unexpired identification. Possible suggestions for this are a state issued ID—the ID you wanted to obtain in the first place.

Let’s say that you do have a Social Security Card. The next step in the process is to present evidence of Legal Presence in the U.S.  This means a birth certificate.  According to the Clerk’s Office, to obtain a Washtenaw County Birth Certificate there is a $15 fee, plus proof of identity. That’s right you need a state issued ID to obtain your birth certificate. Next, you have to present more than two documents with proof of identity on them.  This going to be rather difficult, but let’s continue on to the final step: proving Michigan residency.

Residency may be established through bills, pay stubs, or other documents with name and address on them. You’re homeless and unemployed. So, quite possibly, obtaining a valid government issued ID may just turn out to be impossible.

I know as with any process there can be exceptions to the steps outlined above to receive identification. However, I am also quite sure that the exceptions to the process involve a lot of time and effort.  It would take a lot of perseverance to work through the maze of this system for someone who had a home and a job. So, really, for a homeless individual who, on a daily basis, fights for food and shelter, would getting that ID be worth the fight in order to vote? How about for a senior citizen or a low-income single mom or dad? How about for a disabled individual?

Evidently, there are a lot of Republicans betting that the answer to that question is a resounding no. After all, several U.S. presidential elections have be won or lost by the slimmest of margins. Kennedy beat Nixon by 49.7 percent to 49.6 percent of the vote.

When only white men who owned land got to vote, determining the outcome was a whole lot easier. Some Republican pols would like to take us back to the good ole days when the Good Ole Boys didn’t have to worry about voter rights being so inconveniently wide-spread among the unwashed masses.