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93-Year-Old Tennessee Woman Who Cleaned State Capitol For 30 Years Denied Voter ID
By Marie Diamond on Dec 26, 2011 at 3:20 pm
Tennessee's Capitol building in Nashville. A 93-year-old Tennessee woman who cleaned the state Capitol for 30 years, including the governor’s office, says she won’t be able to vote for the first time in decades after being told this week that her old state ID failed to meet new voter ID regulations.
Thelma Mitchell was even accused of being an undocumented immigrant because she couldn’t produce a birth certificate:
Mitchell, who was delivered by a midwife in Alabama in 1918, has never had a birth certificate. But when she told that to a drivers’ license clerk, he suggested she might be an illegal immigrant.
Thelma Mitchell told WSMV-TV that she went to a state drivers’ license center last week after being told that her old state ID from her cleaning job would not meet new regulations for voter identification.
A spokesman for the House Republican Caucus insisted that Mitchell was given bad information and should’ve been allowed to vote, even with an expired state ID. But even if that’s the case, her ordeal illustrates the inevitable disenfranchisements that result when confusing voting laws enable state officials to apply the law inconsistently.
The incident is the just latest in a series of reports of senior citizens being denied their constitutional right to vote under restrictive new voter ID laws pushed by Republican governors and legislatures. These laws are a transparent attempt to target Democrat constituencies who are less likely to have photo ID’s, and disproportionately affect seniors, college students, the poor and minorities.
As ThinkProgress reported, one 96-year-old Tennessee woman was denied a voter ID because she didn’t have her marriage license. Another senior citizen in Tennessee, 91-year-old Virginia Lasater, couldn’t get the ID she needed to vote because she wasn’t able to stand in a long line at the DMV. A Tennessee agency even told a 86-year-old World War II veteran that he had to pay an unconstitutional poll tax if he wanted to obtain an ID.
-------------------- Wise men learn more from fools than fools from the wise. Posts: 3827 | From: beautiful California | Registered: Sep 2008
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These are isolated incidents that should be handled in an isolated way. OBVIOUSLY because of this womans age there are special circumstances. This woman, given her circumstances should be allowed.
However, if I need to provide an ID to buy smokes, beer, checks, get on a plane, rent something, get a job, get a hotel room, and other things you should be able to prove you are a US citizen to vote. Voter fraud in local elections can really make or break a vote. It should just be the standard. I do not believe in the scare tactics that supporters of this legislation put out there....there is not enough voter fraud as they would have you think. It is something though we should begin to accept as part of the voting process.
It is obvious the Democrats are fighting this because they really need that latino vote. It is the fastest growing segment of our population and thats all future voters.
So Ray thinks I should be able to just go into an election office, "declare" my identity, and vote? Just like we should allow "stated income" for people to get home loans they cant afford right?
-------------------- It isn't so much that liberals are ignorant. It's just that they know so many things that aren't so. Posts: 6949 | Registered: Apr 2004
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we have done it that way since the begining. I don't see what a stated income loan has to do with this issue.
-------------------- Wise men learn more from fools than fools from the wise. Posts: 3827 | From: beautiful California | Registered: Sep 2008
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It was an analogy ray. We obviously have a different climate in 2011-2012 than we did a long time ago.
-------------------- It isn't so much that liberals are ignorant. It's just that they know so many things that aren't so. Posts: 6949 | Registered: Apr 2004
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There has been very little voter fraud in this country. Some state on the federal level of course you have George and his brother Jeb what they did in Florida. But personal fraud Hardly noticable.
-------------------- Wise men learn more from fools than fools from the wise. Posts: 3827 | From: beautiful California | Registered: Sep 2008
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quote:Originally posted by raybond: There has been very little voter fraud in this country. Some state on the federal level of course you have George and his brother Jeb what they did in Florida. But personal fraud Hardly noticable.
i don't belevie that that there has been very little voter fraud in this country. I belevie both parties have done alot of it since the very beginning.
there has been very little* proven *voter fraud, mostly cuz nobody really goes after it. There is also very little proven illegal drug use, yet i am pretty sure i can go buy some in the next hour if really wanted to
-------------------- Don't envy the happiness of those who live in a fool's paradise. Posts: 36378 | From: USA | Registered: Sep 2003
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So Glass I say no there is not voter fraud to the extent repubs say there is.If it is as bad as the repubs say then why aren't they asking for picture ID in there own primary in Iowa?
-------------------- Wise men learn more from fools than fools from the wise. Posts: 3827 | From: beautiful California | Registered: Sep 2008
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quote:Originally posted by raybond: So Glass I say no there is not voter fraud to the extent repubs say there is.If it is as bad as the repubs say then why aren't they asking for picture ID in there own primary in Iowa?
i am all for everyone that has the right to vote to be able to vote, and 80 plus year old people who don't have birth certs need to have exemptions provided for them.
i am sure that the politicians are looking for votes from illegal aliens. this isn't about depriving people the right to vote, this is about making sure that who votes has the right to vote.
the GOP has played plenty of dirty tricks in the past as have the Dems.
my credit card co just caught somebody who "cloned" my card within 24 hours, for the fifth or sixth time. Voting can and should be just as secure.
When i lived in SoCali? I had Mexican citizens and Americans of Mexican descent both tell me that they knew for a fact that illegals were voting there, this was in the late 90's....
there were more kids that could not speak english than could in the elementary school.. this i saw with my own eyes. the kids may have been legal, but their parent were not, and they have been voting but nobody investigates it.
-------------------- Don't envy the happiness of those who live in a fool's paradise. Posts: 36378 | From: USA | Registered: Sep 2003
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I would rather have some illegals get away with voting than have one true American be deprived
-------------------- Wise men learn more from fools than fools from the wise. Posts: 3827 | From: beautiful California | Registered: Sep 2008
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I understand your side and what you mean and to some degree I agree with your thought process.I know illegals because I come from a state that has and still is flooded with them. Most don't vote because they are afraid to register. Then we have the old hashed over question as to why they are hear to begin with. I guess I do gree with you if the whole thing is administrated fairly. But as I can see it is a ploy to stop dem votes from being cast. Like I said if the repubs were intersted in fair there plan would be enforced right now in there primary.
Glass a fact is in the state of AZ. $35 gets you drivers lic. with a picture on it. A birth certificate with a state seal on it the same. And that service is available to illegals not back country and elderly Americans.
-------------------- Wise men learn more from fools than fools from the wise. Posts: 3827 | From: beautiful California | Registered: Sep 2008
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posted
Election Day Registration, No Photo ID Requirement Will Help Boost Turnout In Tomorrow’s Iowa Caucuses
By Scott Keyes on Jan 2, 2012 at 9:30 am
Tomorrow, when Iowa Republicans gather across the state to vote on their party’s presidential nominee, one important tool will be available to boost turnout: election day voter registration.
Though Iowa, unlike most states, permits those who haven’t registered (or just need to update their file after a move, for instance) before election day to do so when they show up at their precinct during regular elections, the Huffington Post notes that the Iowa GOP is in charge of setting the rules for its own caucuses.
Despite nationwide efforts to make voting more difficult, the Republican Party of Iowa decided to buck the trend and allow for on-site registration. In doing so, however, they necessarily undercut the argument being made by GOPers in many other states that election day registration (EDR) invites fraud. (Of course, voters are 39 times more likely to be struck by lightning than commit fraud at the polls, and EDR actually helps prevent already-miniscule levels of fraud.)
Residents of just nine states currently enjoy EDR: Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. However, in a number of these states, the GOP-led war on voting has targeted EDR for repeal, most notably in Maine. Republicans in the Maine legislature passed a bill ridding the state of EDR, only to see the popular program reinstated by referendum in November by an overwhelming 61%-39% margin.
Election day registration will certainly help boost participation in tomorrow’s Iowa caucuses. A 2001 study found that states which employ election day registration (EDR) boost their voter turnout rate by 7 percentage points, without partisan gain for either side. The study found that poorer and less educated voters benefited the most from EDR. ThinkProgress spoke with a number of Maine voters who also lauded the ability to update their registration if they’ve recently moved, particularly because most residents are at work during the day and unable to visit the election clerk during normal business hours.
Had the Iowa GOP followed the lead of their brethren in Maine and elsewhere, thousands of Iowans who will cast their vote tomorrow with the help of election day registration could have been turned away from the polls.
Update
Brad Friedman also points out that the Republican caucuses will not require voters to present a photo ID in order to cast their ballot, a requirement GOPers around the country pushed vigorously in 2011.
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-------------------- Wise men learn more from fools than fools from the wise. Posts: 3827 | From: beautiful California | Registered: Sep 2008
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