93-Year-Old Grandmother Is Suing Pennsylvania Over Voter ID Laws

[cynatnite]

The first time Viviette Applewhite went to the polls, she cast her vote for John F. Kennedy. But this year, a strict new voter identification law will likely prevent the now-93-year old woman and many others in Pennsylvania from participating in their country’s democratic process. And Applewhite won’t stand for it.

She will be the plaintiff in the voter identification lawsuit being filed by the ACLU and the NAACP in the state, which claims that “the state’s voter photo ID law violates the Pennsylvania Constitution by depriving citizens of their most fundamental constitutional right – the right to vote.”

Applewhite no longer has a copy of her birth certificate, and she does not have a drivers’ license. Without either of these things, the new Pennsylvania restrictions say that she is ineligible to vote.

But her circumstances are not at all uncommon. African Americans, especially elderly African Americans, are disproportionately less likely to have a birth certificate.

According to the Brennan Center for Justice:

Twenty-five percent of African-American voting-age citizens have no current government-issued photo ID, compared to eight percent of white voting-age citizens.

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/05/07/479213/93-yo-plaintiff-voter-id/

[Justice wanted]

1. Good for her!

[zbdent]

2. wonder how often the Amish vote ...

they're not likely to want their pictures taken ... but then, do they get drivers licenses in PA? Birth Certificates? PHOTO FREAKIN' IDS???

[yellowcanine]

7. They have a religious exemption for the Amish.

But apparently the application for the religious exemption was very intrusive and asked all kinds of very personal questions. So now the pubbies are trying to figure out how to deal with the blowback on that.

[Justice wanted]

14. State GOP really did shoot themselves in the foot with this one. In general the Amish vote R.

[Cosmocat]

36. The bill is a clusterscrew ...

The bill says that college IDs are OK, BUT has a provision that any IDs have to have an expiration date on them.

Most colleges, including Penn State, do not have expiration dates on them.

This is what you get when power craven politicians punch through legislation for, 100 percent, no ifs and or butts, political reasons.

[Freddie Stubbs]

48. They usually don't vote:

http://amishamerica.com/do-amish-vote/

[Politicalboi]

3. This is the way

They start listening. It would be a good thing if she could personally sue each asshole that voted her right away. We need clauses that won't allow any civil right to be voted out, or changed unless the change is easy, and no cost to the voter.

[Fresh_Start]

4. Go grandma

thank you on behalf of all Americans.
The right to vote should not be impaired for political reasons.

[uponit7771]

5. Amen!!! The VID laws are fuckin horrible and traitorous

[Auntie Bush]

18. What VID laws? Oh, you mean Jim Crow laws?

What's the difference.

[goclark]

6. Finally!!!!!

Unless I missed something this should have been done months ago!

[Cosmocat]

37. They had to wait for the primary

to have the actual example of voter exclusion.

the primary was two weeks ago.

[yellowcanine]

8. Voter ID is going to bite the Republicans big time I believe. The courts are very likely to strike

most of them down. They are clearly discriminatory. And the message sent is just horrible for Republicans. They found an offensive solution to a nonexistent problem.

[tblue37]

11. It won't matter unless the courts strike these laws down BEFORE the next

election, becuase if the Repubs manage to steal it--and they are trying their best to make sure they can steal both houses and the WH--we will never be able to undo the damage they have done to US citizens' constitutional rights!

[polichick]

17. Mike Papantonio was talking about this today and said the courts are crammed with...

...right wingers who will uphold the new laws - and, if they don't, the activist Supreme Court will.

Mike said Holder and the DOJ should be doing much more - and he may have to apologize to his boss for losing the election because of inactivity on his part.

[diane in sf]

33. Holder is too busy busting Cannabis clinics to bother with upholding voter rights.

[polichick]

46. Isn't he in line with what the president wants? I assume he is but don't know.

[Dragonfli]

57. Nobody knows, that's the problem. I have been told he supports MM, but why then all the busts? /nt

[Dragonfli]

9. ALEC has met their match in a 93 year old woman with common sense, for her

sake, and the sake of countless others, I hope she wins the case.

[southernyankeebelle]

12. I'm hoping she get justice before the election. But I have a feeling they will drag their feet.

even if it gets to the supreme court its majority republicans. These republicans having been planning what is going on for years and years and years. Newt said he wants to destroy liberal party. That mother fucker has done a good job of it. We liberals allow this to happen without realizing they were playing dirty. We will have to rebuild and win back what they have taken from liberals.

[PoliticAverse]

21. The Supreme Court's most recent major ruling on voter-id laws was in 2008...

In Crawford v. Marion County-Election Board. (see http://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/crawford-v-marion-county-election-bd/ )

The decision was 6-3.

The short summary of the decision is as long as any eligible voter can get a valid id without charge (even if the voter must travel to get the id) or cast a provisional
ballot and verify their id in another manner later such laws are constitutional.

[TexasProgresive]

43. No free photo ID in Texas $15.00 n/t

[PoliticAverse]

44. Justice Department bars Texas voter ID law

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/justice-department-bars-texas-voter-id-law/2012/03/12/gIQAUzgW7R_story.html

[Dragonfli]

29. I doubt she will get justice before the elections, if at all, but I can still hope right? /nt

[polichick]

16. She's doing it because the DOJ isn't doing its job - Holder should stand up to ALEC.

[Dragonfli]

28. That would pre-suppose that the DOJ disagrees with ALEC, that is far from an axiom.

We have a really, really, bad DOJ, lets face it, we are on our own regarding justice.

[polichick]

45. Does that mean we have a really, really bad president too? He chose Holder, right?

[Dragonfli]

49. No it means we have a weak President that I am told is well meaning, he has my vote again

Because the lesser evil, although evil, buys us some time for a strong man like FDR to come on the scene, we will never get better than Geitner, Holder, etc. unless we take the party back from the third way business first neoliberals that have been in control of the party since Clinton.

It is not a sports team, it is a nation of People in need that are largely ignored unless they are very wealthy or at the very least "middle class".

So many people I know are doing worse every day and the politicians only care about the wealthy and middle class (the support for the middle class is mostly just words even then).

Holder is a strong DOJ when it comes to cancer grannies on pot, but banks and war criminals get a perpetual get out of jail free card, that has to change or do you think it shouldn't change?

[polichick]

50. imo the DOJ, like most of gov't, serves those banks and the 1%...

In my opinion it's sociopathic to prosecute people for weed (recreational or medicinal) while white collar criminals who brought down this economy get off.

I'm just not sure where the president is on all this - he seems like the lesser of evils, to be sure, but he is also in charge and has the power to change what's happening at the DOJ.

[Dragonfli]

56. He has the power true, that he doesn't use it (for whatever reasons) is why he appears weak to me

I am very concerned with the company he keeps, the Third Way crowd are almost Identical to Republicans on fiscal matters, they definitely work for the banks.

I do not know what other options are available to us at this time, I do know this is the last election I will support my party unless it stops behaving like the Republican party of the early nineties.

I did not vote for Republicans in the nineties and I feel a bit like an idiot for voting for much of what they championed then, only now under my parties flag.

If the Democratic party does not head back in the direction it has veered away from the past couple decades, it will no longer be my party, hell, it is too right wing for me now and I was considered a moderate in the 70's (my views are the same, but they call it fringe now)

This is the last chance I give them before admitting we have no option but the long road it would take to get a third party going in strength. A labor party that incorporates socialism like Democrats used to, to work for the average American (and the poor, that are ignored or vilified now) a replacement for what we have lost in our own party.

[polichick]

59. I'm with you - the party has left me, not the other way around...

I'll vote Dem as long as they're the lesser of evils, but now I'm an "unaffiliated" voter.

These days we seem to have one corporate party with two faces - sort of good cop, bad cop dynamics. Keeps the people divided and the corporate status quo in tact.

That said, I do see hope in the occupy movement and in social media grassroots organizing.

[Dragonfli]

62. I am beginning to think occupy and grassroots organizing are the last peaceful hope we have.

This is not a situation as unique in history as some would have us believe, we have had gilded ages before, they tend to end badly without a Democratic Socialist solution as was tried by FDR as a compromise between the Communists and unchecked Capitalists of the time.

Without such a compromise, fascism or police states happen, or sometimes, full out bloody revolution.

I was hoping to avoid the last three options.

[polichick]

64. You're right, this gilded age will end too. Interesting that France has gone socialist!

[Dragonfli]

65. They made the right choice IMO /nt

[polichick]

66. I think so too! We'd be smart to do the same.

[SunSeeker]

51. Holder is suing over ID laws, there's just too many of them.

He did have success in blocking the Texas law, apparently because it requires voters pay $15 for the ID (a poll tax), as noted up the thread.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/justice-department-bars-texas-voter-id-law/2012/03/12/gIQAUzgW7R_story.html

[polichick]

52. According to Mike Papantonio...

Holder is only going after those states with a history (civil rights issues) - when he could step in across the board. I'm no lawyer but it made sense the way Papantonio told it on Ed's show yesterday.

I don't get Holder - his boss could be robbed of a second term because of voter suppression.

[SunSeeker]

55. Holder is limited by Supreme Court precedent.

The reason Holder is more successful in southern states is because of the anti-poll tax laws. That is why Holder was successful in Texas. They had a law that charged $15 for the IDs, so he was able to analogize it to the old poll taxes. However, other states have been a little more sly. And their laws have been upheld by SCOTUS. As noted up the thread, the Indiana law was upheld by SCOTUS; it was the first ALEC law passed and all others were modeled after it. That is now precendent and you can bet the conservative SCOTUS will not overturn that precedent. So Holder has nothing to base his lawsuit on in those states.

It's all about the Supreme Court. That's why we need to fight that much harder to make sure Obama is reelected. A Repuke would appoint more Scalias and ruin the Supreme Court (and the U.S.) for decades.

[polichick]

60. Well I hope Pap is wrong, and Holder is doing all he can. Democracy...

...is pretty much dead in the U.S. since 2000. Maybe it was just an illusion all along - we never did actually have verifiable voting with receipts, did we? There was always a lot of wiggle room.

[SunSeeker]

71. Democracy is not dead. It might be on life support in places like Michigan,

but we still have a right to vote, and our vote did get Obama into office in 2008, even though every conservative tried to stop him. Lines like "democracy is dead in the U.S." scares the crap out of my, not because it is true, but because it will make people stay home in November. So please, enough with the defeatist lament. Identify people you know who might need help getting registered or getting to the polls, then help them do it. Right now I can't think of a greater service you could do for your country.

[polichick]

75. You should be scared - we all should. If you think our democracy is alive and well...

...you're not paying attention.

Ask yourself why, after 2000 and 2004, neither party has fought for the people to have verifiable voting - or even passed a bill to ban the easy-to-hack Diebold machines.

I guarandamntee that if Republicans suppress enough votes to create another Floriduh situation, the Supreme Court will once again install a president the people haven't chosen.

Sure, we should all vote - but that isn't nearly enough. The entire voting system is a scam.

[SunSeeker]

76. Please don't depress the vote by saying it's all a scam. 2008 wasn't a scam.

You're doing exactly what the Repukes want you to do, trying to convince everyone that their vote doesn't matter. It does. I imagine you believe voting matters, otherwise you wouldn't have the avatar that you do...or is that sarcasm? Of course just voting isn't enough. You need to get involved in GOTV efforts, talk to friends and family, volunteer for campaigns, contribute any way you can.

[polichick]

77. You're doing exactly what both parties count on...

...burying your head in the sand and keeping the status quo in tact. If Obama wasn't corporate, he wouldn't have been the Dem nominee in 2008. Change won't come through the parties.

Our voting system IS a scam - the sooner the people get it, the sooner we'll change it.

[SunSeeker]

78. You're doing what Republicans count on.

Yes, our voting system has a lot of vulnarabilities that need to be corrected, but by telling progressives it's ALL a scam, you're depressing their vote, not changing the status quo. I vote to end the status quo. I voted for Obama in 2008 and his election DID change things. We are now out of Iraq. Bin Laden's dead. My brother will have health insurance for the first time in his adult life thanks to the ACA. It IS a big fucking deal. Oh, and there's the little matter of Obama endorsing marriage equality today.

If you believe "change won't come through the parties," why are you even on a pro-Democratic Party website?!

[polichick]

79. Dems are the lesser of evils - and I vote because imo it's our responsibility as citizens...

Change will only come when enough people push our "leaders" to create a true democracy.

(I've never suggested we shouldn't vote - just pointing out that none of us can be sure our votes count in this corrupt system.)

[LynneSin]

10. Corbett is a pedophila-enabling fracker douchebag

any questions?

[freshwest]

31. Well, no, not really. LOL! Did you smile when you said that?

[Smilo]

13. Go Granny Go!!!!

And thank you for standing up for the right of every American.

[polichick]

15. You go, girl!!!

[beac]

19. Brava, Ms. Applewhite!

[PoliticAverse]

20. Applewhite no longer has a copy of her birth certificate, and she does not have a drivers’ license.

Without either of these things, the new Pennsylvania restrictions say that she is ineligible to vote."

That isn't true. In addition to a driver's license other types of photo-id are acceptable including 'non-driver's license photo id'.

From http://www.votespa.com/portal/server.pt/community/preparing_for_election_day/13517/voter_id_law/1115447

All photo IDs must contain an expiration date that is current, unless noted otherwise. Acceptable IDs include:

Photo IDs issued by the U.S. Federal Government or the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania:
Pennsylvania driver’s license or non-driver’s license photo ID (IDs are valid for voting purposes 12 months past expiration date)
Valid U.S. passport
U.S. military ID - active duty and retired military (a military or veteran’s ID must designate an expiration date or designate that the expiration date is indefinite). Military dependents’ ID must contain an expiration date

Employee photo ID issued by Federal, PA, County or Municipal government
Photo ID cards from an accredited Pennsylvania public or private institution of higher learning
Photo ID cards issued by a Pennsylvania care facility, including long-term care facilities, assisted living residences or personal care homes

[peacebird]

23. She is 93, chances are her drivers license is more than 1 year out of date....

So if she is living with family she probably has no recourse under the law as written.

[drm604]

24. How many people have any of those?

If she's not a veteran, not a government employee, not a student, and not living in a care facility, how does any of that help her?

[proud2BlibKansan]

26. She can just show her employee ID then

Cause we all know 93 year old women are employed

[ProfessionalLeftist]

32. You can't GET "other types of photo ID" without a birth certificate

And since she has no driver's license either, she's screwed under the new Jim Crow laws - just as ALEC intended.

[Liberty Belle]

34. There are probably lots of older Native AMericans without birth certificates too

if they were born at home on reservations.

And what about people who are visually impaired and can't drive?

[TexasProgresive]

42. Without a birth certificate

she will not be able to get any photo ID considered valid. They want her to prove she was born in the US just like the birthers.

In Texas the ID issued by TEXDPS cost $15.00, plus in my town they moved DPS to the sticks with no bus service.

[FlaGranny]

47. You must remember

you can get NO photo ID without a birth certificate. In Florida, to get a renewal of your DL (or ID), if you are a female, you need original documents including birth certificate, marriage licenses, divorce decrees, death certificates, etc., to show how you got from your birth surname to your current surname. I can't imagine how many women in their 80's and 90's, who have been married more than once or twice, could possibly get all those documents together. When I got my DL renewed, it was a nightmare getting all that stuff together.

They have made it close to impossible for older women. My mother was born in 1906, in a house, in the country. She had no birth certificate that I am aware of. She would never be able to get an ID if she were still living now. Even if witnesses were accepted, they would all have been dead. Can you imagine? Her family are amongst the earliest European settlers, coming here in the 1600's. She would now not be allowed to vote.

It really pisses me off.

[PoliticAverse]

22. Brief background on all the people in the ACLU's lawsuit...

http://www.aclupa.org/legal/legaldocket/applewhiteetalvcommonwealt/voteridclients.htm

Note the claim that Henrietta Kay Dickerson was unable to get a free id as she should have been able to.

Despite the state's promise that people could get photo ID cards free for voting purposes, the personnel at the DMV refused to give Ms. Dickerson a free card, insisting that she pay $13.50, which she did. They told her that she could not get a free ID because her old one had not been expired for more than a year, even though it would not be valid on election day in November. Since Ms. Dickerson does not need the ID for any reason but to vote, the fee is tantamount to a poll tax.

[drm604]

25. It's just a modern version of the old literacy tests.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literacy_test

Overall, the burden falls hardest on those most likely to vote for Democrats. It's obvious to any objective, thinking person that this is intentional.

[leftylauren]

27. Even the free ID requires a social security card & birth certificate with a raised seal & two other

forms of proof of residency. Thats still a lot of hoops to jump through to get a photo ID for the sole purpose of voting and likely that many voters would not have the ability to provide all the necessary documentation. Which effectively takes away a right granted by the constitution.

Kinda ironic how conservatives will cling to their guns claiming constitutional rights but have no problem taking away someone else's without a passing thought.

[MrMickeysMom]

30. I cannot believe the local Democratic committee people where I live have nothing to say about it...

On the OTHER hand, when I voted in April's general primaries (Allegheny County), the judge of elections of my precinct was ready to defy this law and simply not even check for voter ID's, she was so disgusted. As she said, "After Citizen's United, I started to loose what little faith I have in the system. This is nothing more than a poll tax, and I don't care if anyone shows their ID.

I do not plan to show my ID in solidarity to this RIDICULOUS law that this RIDICULOUS administration in Harrisburg is forcing on us.

Fuck THEM.

[treestar]

35. These laws ought to provide a way for people to

be exceptions to the rule and prove their citizenship some other way. Since she doesn't have a Birth Certificate, would they deny her a passport too? There must be some way to resolve it. Long term residence and previous voting; having had a Driver's License in the past - there could be many ways for the state to decide she is a citizen.

[ctaylors6]

73. ...

A US passport can be obtained without a birth certificate or other primary evidence of citizenship. Certain secondary forms of evidence of citizenship are accepted as detailed on State Department website:
http://travel.state.gov/passport/get/secondary_evidence/secondary_evidence_4315.html

States usually provide a way to obtain a "delayed registration" birth certificate if no record is found of the person's birth. The state may require the person to first have a search of birth records done, then obtain a "no record of birth" document. Then the person can get a delayed registration birth certificate by submitting the no-record document along with a document showing birth information (eg, a document older than a certain number of years that details the person's name and date & place of birth).

Of course all of those methods cost $.

[LittleGirl]

38. Indiana was the first state to force this and

in 2008, they wouldn't allow elderly nuns to vote in South Bend Indiana.

[goclark]

39. Amazing that it has come to this

and the issue is flying like a jet plane through all the states

[Indydem]

41. And the Indiana law was upheld by SCOTUS.

It was the first ALEC law passed and all others were modeled after it. I find it highly unlikely that SCOTUS will change their precedent.

[SunSeeker]

53. That's why we must make sure Obama gets reelected.

It's all about the Supreme Court. A Repuke would appoint more Scalias and ruin the Supreme Court (and the U.S.) for decades. For those bashing Holder on this thread, you have to understand he is bound by Supreme Court precedent; sometimes the laws are crafted in such a way that there is nothing he can hang a lawsuit on. Other times, they are so over the top (e.g. impose a $15 fee for the ID--a blatant poll tax), he wins, like in Texas (as noted up the thread).

[ctaylors6]

61. In Indiana, she'd be able to vote absentee by mail

http://www.in.gov/sos/elections/2402.htm


Voters voting absentee-by-mail are NOT required to show photo ID.

She'd be able to vote absentee-by-mail because she's 65 years old or older

[LittleGirl]

68. She went to her normal polling place.

all of them did. They knew the nuns. Those election fools should have known better.

[MADem]

40. I think the lawyers need to crawl through some of the nursing homes and retirement communities, and

find a few folks to join Viviette in this suit. They need to make this shit look like the Rainbow Coalition on Geritol has come to stick it to 'em. They should even find a few "Trust Fund Geezers for RMoney" to round out the lot. This should not be publicized (despite what we know about this issue, statistically) as a D v. R thing, a rich v. poor thing, or even a white v. insert minority group here thing.

This really isn't about race, or one party over another. It's about age. Old people don't have driver's licenses. The ones who don't get out much don't even have any valid picture IDs. The ones most likely to be affected by this are urban dwelling elderly.

Heckuvajob, Election Brownies--they're beating up on great grannies! That's how this needs to be shopped.

[ctaylors6]

63. that wouldn't help too much because

one acceptable form of ID in PA is Photo ID card issued by a Pennsylvania care facility, including long-term care facilities, assisted living residences or personal care homes.
http://www.votespa.com/portal/server.pt/community/preparing_for_election_day/13517/voter_id_law/1115447

But I think it wouldn't be too hard to find people outside of those facilities who fit the profile you're thinking about.

[MADem]

74. Sneaky and cheeky, this law, isn't it?

It looks like they've covered the wealthy Republicans in assisted living facilities~! Bastards!

I do hope they find an old lifelong Republican to stand beside this woman (who looks like my late great aunt!); I really think it would confuse the hell out of those bums!

[Uncle Joe]

54. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, cynatnite.

[mercymechap]

58. Republicans are very calculating - I'm sure they've thought of all possible

ways to keep Libs from voting. They are willing to lose a few votes, but they know the majority will be minorities - mostly Libs.
They are good at uniting together for their cause, something Libs have a hard time doing for anything.

[SunSeeker]

72. Ain't that the truth!

Can you imagine if all the progressives focused their energies on reelecting Obama instead of criticizing him?

[ctaylors6]

67. FYI - can get US passport without birth certificate

To be clear, I'm not responding directly to OP to say this is the woman's solution. But I thought that if it helped even one person vote who otherwise might not have voted, it would be worthwhile to post the information. It's strange that many states don't provide alternatives to birth certificate like this, but the State Department does. And of course US passport is acceptable form of ID to vote.

If a person does not have a birth certificate (or other primary for of ID), the applicant can present some secondary forms of ID. The secondary forms of ID are explained/listed here:
http://travel.state.gov/passport/get/secondary_evidence/secondary_evidence_4315.html

[PoliticAverse]

69. Unless you can get a passport for free it won't satisfy the requirement to avoid an unconstitutional

'poll tax' (i.e. required payment) in order to vote.

[ctaylors6]

70. I agree

That why I said I wasn't responding directly to OP. I just thought it might be helpful if someone wanted to vote without waiting for litigation to go through the courts and could afford and was willing to pay for the passport fee.