Proposed Voter ID Act Pulls Rug Out From Seniors
Sat Sep 23, 2006 at 03:57:39 PM PDT
Senior Citizen Abuse Alert!
Voting Seniors are fixin’ to have the rug pulled straight out from under them come election time.
Congress is set to decide new requirements of citizens before you can go cast your ballot.
These requirements could very well cost you money, time and a lot of effort. Citizens will have to produce documents that many of us do not have on hand
HR 4844, the Voter ID Act, if it passes in the Senate - will disenfranchise millions of senior citizen
voters in our country. Most seniors will not have the documentation needed to PROVE that they are citizens.
Tom Paine Magazine calls HR 4844 the Voter Fraud Fraud. Lots of detail about why this legislation is so bad.
The House passed the bill Wednesday afternoon. Now it moves to the Senate. If the senate betrays seniors and passes it, it will go into effect in 2008.
But We have to stop it NOW.
- NC Voter’s diary :: ::
The American Association of Retired People has actively opposed voter identification legislation in several states wrote in a letter submitted into the record to congress:
“On behalf of older Americans who have largely shaped the values of our democracy, we urge great care to ensure that the basic right to vote is not trampled in an effort to
address unproven allegations of voting issues.”
Sadly, many people believe that the National Voter ID Act would be a good thing for our country , because they have not read the “fine print”.
Once you find out what will be required of you in order for you to have “permission” to vote, you will be stunned:
‘What HR 4844 does is require “government-issued, current and valid photo identification for which the individual was required to provide proof of United States citizenship as a condition for the issuance of the identification” — this is quoting from the text of the bill.Drivers licenses do not fit this definition because proof of citizenship is not required to obtain a driver’s
license (there are three states that DO require proof of citizenship but the majority do not).The only existing document that fits this definition is a passport.
In order to get a passport you need to obtain your state issued birth certification (not a hospital version).
There are fees connected to getting your birth certificate. These add up.
Married women might need to provide copies of their marriage license to document their name change
(another cost and more hassle).’~ Kathy Jackson, Oregon Voters Rights Coalition.
All this just to be given a ballot in order to vote. Not to register to vote but to cast a ballot.
Many of us citizens will be affected *- You and your senior citizen neighbors will have to spend your time and money to get your birth certificate or a passport - in order to obtain the govt issued id. Even if the government ID itself is free, the documents proving you are a citizen are not.
Ask your neighbors if they have proof of citizenship.
*In my home state of North Carolina, getting a birth certificate can be an expensive hassle:
IF you need your birth certificate
within 5-7 business days, it will cost you $30.00 for the certificate and $25.45 required to have it sent to you by the required UPS Air.If you don’t mind waiting 6-8 weeks for your birth certificate, then you can mail your request for a birth certificate from Raleigh,
from the vital records dept for $15.00.
This may not sound like much to you, but add that in the long wait that most people don’t expect, and you might not get to vote. And if you don’t have a birth certificate, you will really have a problem. Most senior citizens have transportation and money issues already.
The Congress isn’t telling the public everything - read the fine print - the devil is in the details.
My elderly next door neighbor, a regular voter, and a republican - will not be able to cast her vote in 2008.
Sadly, HR 4844 will have a devastating affect on qualified and legal voters.
posted on Daily Kos by NC Voter
