"New Voter-ID Laws Target Women"

[applegrove]

New Voter-ID Laws Target Women

at the American Prospect

http://prospect.org/article/new-voter-id-laws-target-women

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In the last few years, Georgia and Indiana have instated overly strict voter-ID laws. The Supreme Court upheld Indiana's law, which required voters to present valid photo identification at the polls, finding it to be of legitimate state interest in preventing voter fraud. Five more states are now following suit.

Voter ID laws don't really catch voter fraud, however, because voter fraud is a fictional problem -- it rarely happens and the kind of fraud these laws are supposedly meant to prevent don't have a tangible effect on elections anyway. Instead of combating a problem, voter-ID laws create one by disenfranchising minorities, the poor, students, and the elderly. And thanks to a new spate of extra-rigorous voter-ID laws aimed at disenfranchising Democratic voters, women's ability to vote will be affected too.

Kansas and Wisconsin have taken up strict photo-ID laws modeled on Georgia's and Indiana's, where voters must show a photo ID issued by the state or federal government in order to cast their ballots. Three states with laws that required identification but no photograph -- South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas -- changed their laws to require photo IDs and made them even stricter by giving voters rigid deadlines of two to six business days after the election to produce necessary documents. Otherwise, their provisional ballots will not be counted.

Here's where women get stuck. American women change their names in about 90 percent of marriages and divorces. So newly married and recently divorced women whose legal names do not match those of their current photo ID will face opposition when voting, especially in the seven states with the stricter voter-ID rules. They cannot provide personal information like a birthday or take an oath swearing to their identity in lieu of showing a photo ID. Instead, they will have to fill out substitute ballots and later return with valid documentation like a certified court document showing a divorce decree or marriage license.



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[Hekate]

1. KnR

[djean111]

2. See the Gather Get Go website for Floridians.

Married three times? You need birth certificate and all three marriage licenses.
In addition to SS proof and address verification.
This is aimed at all women.

[davidpdx]

3. Rediculous

I don't think these laws can be reversed in time for 2014 unless they are struck down by a court. Just another reason why we need D majorities in the legislators and D governors to reverse all this BS.

[SheilaT]

4. Completely apart from voting issues,

I've been telling women for more than thirty years not to change their names when they get married. It's far easier to keep your original name.

When I got married in 1980 and did not change my name, concerned people would ask me, "But what if you have children?" To which I'd reply, "If you have kids, then divorce and remarry, someone in that case is bound to have a different last name. What's the difference if it starts out that way?"

I can tell you that in 25 years of marriage there was one and only one time when having a different last name presented a problem. We'd gone out to dinner, and my husband left his credit card behind at the restaurant. The next day, when he realized it, he called them and said his wife would pick it up. (He worked some 45 miles away, so I was closer and better able to retrieve the card.) When I got to the restaurant they understandably wanted to see ID. But my name was different from his. I thought for a bit, then pulled out my checkbook. We had a joint account. Both names, home address, which matched the one on my driver's license. They let me have the credit card.

So anyone who thinks not changing her name is going to be a big hassle is simply wrong.

Many years ago when I still worked the ticket counter at National Airport in Washington DC I ran into the obverse of this problem. One of our flight attendants who was getting married soon had applied for some kind of a free pass for her and her husband. Unfortunately she'd requested the pass in the name of "Mr. and Mrs. Steven Smith". All of her identification showed her as Mary Lou West. (I'm making up the names.) There was absolutely NOTHING to connect Mr. and Mrs. Steven Smith to Mary Lou West, so I refused to write the passes. If she'd at least had gone for Steven and Mary Lou Smith I could have helped her out.

So, my message is this: ladies, keep the name that's on your birth certificate. Trust me, life is easier that way.

[AsahinaKimi]

7. Thank you..

I plan to stay an Asahina.. for a long time!

[LearningCurve]

5. This possibility never even occurred to me

Thanks for posting.

[applegrove]

6. Yeah I was shocked too.

[Laelth]

8. k&r for exposure. n/t

-Laelth