According to Aviva Shen at ThinkProgress, requiring an ID to vote (just like boarding a plane, paying with a credit card, picking up a prescription, purchasing cigs or booze, or dozens of other daily instances) has a “disproportionate impact…for minorities, seniors, and low-income voters”.
It’s clear what they’re saying: minorities, seniors, and low-income voters aren’t capable of producing an ID. That’s real discrimination any way you slice it.
This is directly from the CA DMV website:
“When you don’t have a driver’s license, you need to get an official ID card to prove who you are. Anyone of any age may apply for an ID card: children, seniors, and nondrivers.”
So no, you don’t have to be a driver to get an ID card, so seniors who are no longer able to drive or people who bike everywhere are not prohibited from voting.
“BUT I BET IT’S SUPER EXPENSIVE AND LOW-INCOME VOTERS CAN’T AFFORD IT!!!!111” you say.
Your fee, paid during your appointment, will be:
$27 application fee for most applicants.
Free, for those 62 years of age or older.
Free, for those who must give up a driver license due to a medical condition.
A $8 reduced-fee ID card is available for low-income residents.
So where’s the barrier, again?
By the way, even with the ID law, it doesn’t even bar you from voting!
Say you lost yours. Or you forgot to bring it election day.
“Those without it would have to vote a provisional ballot that would count only if the voter could provide local election officials with the required identification by noon on the Friday after the election”.
There’s no barrier. There’s no excuse. There’s no discrimination.
The only discrimination is manufactured:
Virginia Attorney General and gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli (R) called for stricter photo ID requirements because Obama ‘can’t win a state where photo ID is required.’
Despite that Cuccinelli, according to a prior ThinkProgress article, never said that:
JACOBUS: Photo ID. Voter photo ID. Obama lost every one of those states. He can’t win a state where photo ID is required. So clearly there’s something going on out there…
When ThinkProgress starts misrepresenting their own statements, you know there’s a serious problem.
And when they don’t have enough faith in “minorities, seniors, and low-income voters” to have the intelligence to produce an ID, there’s an even more serious problem.
