Voter ID Laws

This is part of a series about ongoing political issues called “The Briefing Book.”

Driver’s License

 I went to the Bureau of Motor Vehicles the other day, to get a new driver’s license.  In Pataskala, Ohio, that’s not such a big deal.  The BMV is located in the old Post Office building by the railroad tracks in the center of town, about a half a mile from the house.  If you go at the end or beginning of the month you might have to wait for a while, but if you hit the middle there’s not such a big line. 

It’s set up like a deli.  There’s the “number” machine, where you take one, and a series of folding chairs where you can wait it out.  You usually find someone that you know in line to have a conversation with.   This time, it was the Russian woman who works at Kroger, and a kid I suspended from school a dozen years ago.

When you get to the counter, the worker there rapidly goes through the list of items you need to get your license or ID.  If you get the one that’s not acceptable for airlines and such, it used to be your old ID is enough.   Now with all the added security, or if it’s your first ID (let’s see, for me that was my first passport at three years old), they require:

• Birth Certificate – with original seal
• Social Security Card (or SSA printout)
• A document showing Ohio Residency
  • Current Insurance Bill
  • Current Utility Bill,
• And $10.

Social Bias

There’s a story teacher’s use to explain the concept of “social bias” in testing.  It’s a math problem:  

Joey mows grass, and he can cut three houses in two hours.  Unfortunately he ran out of gas, and was delayed by two hours.  He has six houses left to finish before it rains, how long will it take?

For kids in the suburbs there are really only two answers to the question.  The first, he’ll need another four hours to get the grass cut.  The second, it doesn’t matter, because he doesn’t have any gas.

But for kids growing up in the city, where the backyards are asphalt and mowing grass isn’t a thing kids do, this question sounds like:

Arthur was participating in the South Bay Regatta.  His ketch was caught crosswind while tacking across the sound, and lost sail.  How will Arthur return his ketch to the dock?

If you don’t know what a Regatta, a bay, a dock or a ketch is, you won’t be able to answer the question.  A city kid may not have ever seen a push mower, not had to ever buy gasoline, nor seen six houses with lawns to be mowed.  Need another example:  ask a suburban kid what a “transfer” is.  Odds are, they won’t have a clue. 

Now on Facebook

It’s driven on social media today. “Democrats want open borders, and Democrats are against Voter ID, so Democrats must want illegal immigrants to vote,” the memes say in one way or another.  And for some of those living here in Pataskala or in other suburbs, it seems right.  Getting an ID is easy, why would anyone be against requiring having an ID to vote?  After all, we need ID for so many other transactions in life, voting shouldn’t be an issue.

But it’s a lot like trying to explain the whole regatta thing.  Either you know it and understand it, or you don’t.  To suburban America it’s difficult to understand how getting an ID is a big deal.

Your Papers Please

Let’s just start with the paper work and  the whole “sealed” birth certificate thing.  In a world where apartments change rapidly, and stuff gets lost, how likely is it that you have an “original” or “sealed” birth certificate.  And if you don’t have one, who has the time to go to the County Courthouse, stand in line, and try to prove that you are you.

And then there’s the “residency” thing.  

Back at the founding of the “Republic,” the “right” to vote was only granted to property owners.  It was only later on that the ownership provisions were dropped, until today the term “citizen” is enough of a qualification.  But here’s the rub:  if you can’t prove “residency” you can’t register to vote.   It’s not just homeless people, it’s “squatters” that are living in situations that aren’t exactly “legal,” sub-letting or “crashing” at someone else’s place.  How can you get a utility or insurance bill in your name?

In America we say every citizen gets to vote.  But that’s not really true; the “paperwork” restricts voting to those who can legally prove residence.  And in a society where the divide between the “haves” and the “have not’s” is growing, the chasm between those that can vote and those that cannot is growing as well.

Right to Vote

Demand for Voter ID is a “social bias” kind of thing.  For those who have access to all of their paperwork, who have transportation, and who have $10 to spend on a government form:  it’s no big deal.  In short, if you live in the suburbs, have all “your papers” in order, a car to drive to the BMV, and a job that gets you time off at a time when the BMV is open, then getting an ID, or a License is easy.  Since those voters tend to be Republican, it should be no surprise that the GOP supports voter ID.

 Not everyone lives that way or has life is so “well ordered.”  But convenience, order, and financial stability are not “criteria” for earning the “right to vote”.  A right is a right, and democracy should make sure that citizens are enabled to vote, not restricted from it.