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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsBeating up on the elderly is filthy! Shows what Texas Republicans are made of!
Elderly Texan May be Disenfranchised by Texas' new voter suppression law; Woman Denied Voter ID 3 times
When 84-year-old Dorothy Card was born, women had enjoyed the right to vote for less than a decade. She never took it for granted. It just makes me know that Im an American and I have a right to vote, she said, recounting past elections where shed voted. Truman, I guess I voted for him, Card noted.
Cards experience is emblematic of the challenge that many Texas residents have faced or will face when trying to exercise their right to vote. Because she hasnt driven in nearly 15 years, Card doesnt carry the most common form of photo ID: a drivers license. Once the voter ID law took effect, she went down to her local Department of Public Safety, the Texas agency that administers voter IDs.
She brought her documents and thought they would issue her a voter ID without hassle. She was wrong. What should have been a simple trip to the DPS turned into three (and counting) long, arduous trips, each ending without Card being issued a voter ID.
Card didnt have a license or other photo ID already. She tried to get a copy of her marriage license from the county courthouse, but officials there were unable to locate it. Even a special letter from a county administrator attesting to this was deemed insufficient by the DPS.
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/09/26/2683971/dorothy-card-voter-id/
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Beating up on the elderly is filthy! Shows what Texas Republicans are made of! (Original Post)
Divernan
Sep 2013
OP
Warpy
(111,169 posts)1. Maybe Ms. Card should vote with her feet
Surrounding states are a bit more reasonable. Texas is just plain nuts.
Yes, I know that's a lot to ask of an 83 year old lady.
Her other alternative is to contact the ACLU. Maybe they'll use her as a test case to get this idiotic law overturned for what it is: a new poll tax masquerading as an unreasonable burden of proof of identity.
Divernan
(15,480 posts)2. If you read the whole article, TX has been embarassed into promising her ID
But that's only because of her dogged refusal to give up and a lot of publicity.
Warpy
(111,169 posts)3. Good, but I wonder how many other elderly women are just like her?
I'm not sure I could amass the pile of paperwork Texas wants. Women are especially oppressed by this law because of the mandatory name change with marriage that used to exist.
That law is a fucking sick joke and needs to be sued out of existence.