Voting Rights Uprising: Activists in Three States Help GOP's Targets Get Voter ID

Voting Rights Uprising: Activists in Three States Help GOP's Targets
Get Voter ID
Grassroots groups in Wisconsin, Tennessee and Colorado help GOP
targets obtain credentials to vote in 2012.
April 24, 2012 | LIKE THIS ARTICLE ?
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The GOP-led effort to disenfranchise likely Democratic voting blocks
by enacting tougher state voter ID laws has run into a new obstacle:
targeted populations are fighting back as voting rights advocates are
helping people obtain the necessary ID.

Grassroots efforts in Tennessee, Wisconsin and Colorado are profiled
in a new report, "Got ID? Helping Americans Get Voter Identification,"
from Common Cause, Demos, Fair Elections Legal Network, and the
Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. The report is an
important counterpoint to persistent progressive messaging about the
GOP's attack on voting rights that typically has not informed people
how to overcome the barriers.

"This report gives Americans the tools they need to fight back and
make their voices heard," said Jenny Rose Flanagan, director of voting
and elections at Common Cause.

The battle over tougher ballot access is a years-long fight where
proponent's arguments are not supported by facts on the ground and
mask their partisan goals—shaping the electorate to achieve or
maintain political power. There is nothing new about enacting laws (or
running campaign ads) to discourage voting.

In 2003, states began enacting photo ID laws. Pushed by Republicans
and a few conservative Southern Democrats, the goal was to restrict
voting by slices of society the power-brokers considered undesirable:
minorities, low-income people, students, the disabled and elderly—the
very people likely to vote against them. Proponents proclaimed photo
ID laws would protect election integrity of the process by prevent
unregistered voters from casting ballots, and preclude miscreants from
voting more than once. They said people could not board a flight
without a photo ID, so why not require the same for voting, which is
far more important than merely taking a trip.

The problem is that not everyone has a state-issued photo
ID—particularly people who do not drive, such as many inner city
residents, students and older people. Moreover, voting fraud—or posing
as another person and casting a ballot—is rare. If it does happen, it
usually is singular instances that are typically caught by election
officials and prosecuted. Even right-wing provocateur James O'Keefe's
recent gambits to try to fraudulently vote (such as in the 2012 New
Hampshire Primary) saw him flee—for fear of being arrested.
Nonetheless, GOP majorities have passed tougher state ID laws,
affecting millions, knowing that elections can turn on very slim
margins.

To date, 30 states require voters to show ID to get a ballot. The
toughest version of this law, requiring residents present a specific
state-issued photo ID, are in place in five states: Indiana, Georgia,
Kansas, Pennsylvania and Tennessee. Other states have passed photo ID
laws, but those changes have either been rejected by the U.S.
Department of Justice in South Carolina and Texas, which has
jurisdiction under the Voting Rights Act, or face a pending DOJ
decision (Alabama), or have been suspended by a federal court
(Wisconsin, although an appeal is pending). Several other states are
considering similar legislation. A Virginia bill is back before its
legislature. Minnesota will vote on it in November.

Unlike 2008, grassroots groups in key states are working to empower
voters to obtain the needed ID to vote this fall. Three states are
setting an example for others to follow.

Wisconsin

In typical Badger State style, local groups have galvanized around the
voting rights challenge imposed by the state's photo ID law—which was
adopted by the Republican majority in 2011 but was recently found
unconstitutional by a federal court. The state's GOP leaders have
appealed. Meanwhile, activists are not taking any chances—not with a
gubernatorial recall election and presidential election this year.

"A lot of organizations are running on limited resources, using a lot
of volunteers to try to help people get IDs if that's possible," said
Tova Wang of Demos.

That's exactly what's happening. "Milwaukee provides free birth
certificates for those who don't have them, and activists are
providing free transportation to the Department of Motor Vehicles so
voters can get IDs," she said.

Another key program, Wisconsin Voices, developed a relationship with
the Department of Motor Vehicles. Advocates filed a public records
request and got more than 2 million names of residents with drivers'
licenses. That was cross-referenced with a voter contact and
management system. As a result, 1.3 million individuals were
identified who may need photo IDs to vote.

To help college students, meanwhile, organizers set up the "Be a
Voter!" program to get thousands of them registered before upcoming
elections. Milwaukee churches also were mobilized to assist inner-city
residents take the steps necessary to get proper identification. And a
group called "9to5" focuses its outreach on low-income women and young
people so they can get proper credentials. Elderly advocates are also
assessing how many eligible voters lack birth certificates in senior
centers.

Tennessee

In Tennessee, the Voter Assistance Coalition has been reaching out to
communities though a network of grassroots partners—unions, churches
and students and teachers at colleges and universities, according to
Ben Hovland, an attorney with the Fair Elections Legal Network. The
coalition has been identifying those who lack credentials, primarily
people without driver's licenses, which is about 10 percent of
prospective voters.

"Now, to get a driver's license, you need a birth certificate,"
Hovland explained. "Some people don't have one, have lost it, and some
are born outside a hospital and never got one." The Coalition walks
people through the arduous task of getting a birth certificate, and
then a driver's license. Once it helps people to secure birth
certificates, local churches provide rides to DMV offices so people
can get photo required IDs.

For older Tennessee residents there's an added problem. The state does
not require older drivers to have photographs on their licenses and
Holvand says many folks don't have them. The Coalition has been
assisting seniors to get new licenses with photos.

What Tennessee is doing can be done anywhere, he said. "Our hope is
that in places where there are these bad laws that citizens and
community groups can help their fellow residents so that fewer people
will be disenfranchised."

Colorado

Colorado does not have a photo ID law for voting. But low-income state
residents have had to deal with a similar intrusion, said Common
Cause's Flanagan. In 2006, its legislature required picture ID for
people who receive public benefits. That spawned the Collaborative ID
project, which is now working to ensure eligible voters will not face
obstacles at the polls.

Linda Olson, senior attorney for Colorado Legal Services, said during
a special session that year, lawmakers passed several immigration
bills. One of them was H.B. 1023 on public benefits. "The thinking was
there were undocumented people receiving public benefits and this was
a way to weed them out by requiring everyone to have a state ID,"
Olson said. "The reality is they didn't find hardly any undocumented
people getting public benefits."

For the past six years, the Collaborative ID project has helped people
get birth certificates and IDs. "Some are lawfully present immigrants
but most of our clients are U.S. citizens," Olson said.

The project has already helped 10,000 people obtain proper IDs,
Flanagan said, but it's a costly undertaking. The need has outstripped
what the group can do, Olson said. Foundation funding provides money
so the poor can get birth certificates or other ID. "We have $5,000 a
month for that and we're usually turning people away by the fifth of
each month," she said.

National Model

While other state legislatures across the country consider voter ID
legislation, "We're hopeful we won't continue to see these laws
passed," said Common Cause's Flanagan. "Once these laws pass, the
impact is so great." The Fair Election Legal Network's Hovland agreed.
"These laws are unnecessary and they certainly are going to have an
impact on certain segments of the population."

Whether the number of states increases, the Got ID? report suggests
more groups must step forward to help eligible voters.

"It is vitally important that community leaders, particularly those
who work with communities of color, young people, seniors, and people
with disabilities take an active role in helping voters acquire the
requisite photo ID," said Chris Melody Fields, of the Lawyers'
Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.

"Many local organizations are just beginning to get started," Wang
noted, "and hopefully there will be more funding."

The report is a wake-up call to voting rights advocates: get moving to
ensure everyone can vote. And time is running out. The presidential
election is just 28 weeks away.

More:
http://www.alternet.org/story/155142/voting_rights_uprising%3A_activists_in_three_states_help_gop%27s_targets_get_voter_id?akid=8677.130206.y7wv5S&rd=1&t=2

--
Together, we can change the world, one mind at a time.
Have a great day,
Tommy



--
Together, we can change the world, one mind at a time.
Have a great day,
Tommy

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