Ruthelle Frank, an 84-year-old resident of a small town in Wisconsin, is suing her home state...

[babylonsister]

http://coloradoindependent.com/114250/voter-id-laws-keep-citizens-from-voting

Voter ID laws keep citizens from voting
By Ashley Lopez
Tuesday, February 28, 2012 at 11:46 am


Ed. note: This piece was written and published in coordination with Ms. Magazine.


Ruthelle Frank, an 84-year-old resident of a small town in Wisconsin, is suing her home state because, for the first time in her adult life, she might not be able to vote. In 2011, Wisconsin’s Republican-led Legislature enacted a new law that requires state-issued photo identification for all voters. Because Frank cannot drive, she has never held a license. Last November, Frank’s daughter drove her to their local Department of Motor Vehicles office to obtain a photo ID.

Frank says she knew she did not have a proper birth certificate, so she took her baptismal certificate, marriage certificate and Social Security card to the DMV, hoping that would be sufficient.

It was not.

When she got to the counter, a woman looked at the baptismal certificate and said, “Well, this is illegal. How do I know you are not an alien?”

“I was…about to cry,” Frank recalls, “because I have lived at the same address for 83 years.”

Frank left the DMV without an ID, and now may have to pay $200 to have her birth certificate changed because her maiden name is misspelled.

Looking back, she says she can’t understand “why I would be treated as rudely as I was treated.”

This past December, Frank joined 17 fellow Wisconsinites in a lawsuit against the state’s new voter photo-ID law, claiming the law is unconstitutional and “imposes a severe and undue burden on the fundamental right to vote.”

more...

http://coloradoindependent.com/114250/voter-id-laws-keep-citizens-from-voting

[FSogol]

1. "can’t understand “why [she] would be treated as rudely as [she] was treated"

Simple: Republicans don't want you to vote.

[southernyankeebelle]

7. No they don't want her democratic vote. I hope she and the others win.

[Gman]

2. I can't imagine a more perfect case

if she doesn't win, there really are no more rules and we have no constitution.

[yodermon]

3. since when are baptismal certificates illegal??

That sentence doesn't even compute.

[PeaceNikki]

4. It's not *illegal*, it's just not a legal document.

I get that it's not a legal document, but the voter ID is bullfuckingshit.

[LuvNewcastle]

5. Imagine how many people will just give up when

confronted with all those obstacles. That's what the Republicans are counting on. Even if this law is struck down, however, it probably won't be soon enough for this year's elections.

[tblue37]

8. The Dems just will not keep their eye on the ball.

Republicans identify long-term goals and work carefully, meticulously, relentlessly to accomplish them, no matter how long it takes, and no matter how many setbacks they encounter.

But Dem pols simply lurch from crisis to crisis, election to election, without taking care of the stuff that makes all the difference--like ensuring that our votes are fairly counted, or ensuring that Dem voting groups are not disenfranchised by such laws.

Meanwhile, Republican voters back their party's candidate, no matter how hard they most hold their noses to do so, because they keep their eyes on the prize and realize that there are always only two choices, and a protest vote would get them an outcome they cannot tolerate.

On the other hand, too many Dem voters either withold their votes or give them to candidates who have no chance of winning, forgetting that the president appoints USSC justices and federal judges, and that a Republican president, House of Representatives, or Senate can do a huge amount of irretrievable damage given two to four (or eight!) years in power. We may never undo even half the damage CheneyBushCo did during their eight eyars in offive, and even in just these past two years, the Tea Party Congress has done a lot of real harm.

If Dems were focused on what matters, these laws would have been challenged immediately and the challenges would have been pushed through as fast as possible.

[Scuba]

6. Good for her!!!!

[zorahopkins]

9. The Behavior Of The DMV Employee

I think that the behavior of the DMV employee who caused Ms Frank such distress is absolutely deplorable.

I cannot imagine what would have possessed any decent public employee to behave in such a rude manner.

There is a way -- a polite, respectful way -- to tell someone "no".

But asking someone -- especially an elderly woman -- "how do I know you are not an illegal alien?" is definitely NOT the way.

The DMV employee apparently offered no help and no comfort.