Daniel Liebeskind has written a very fine account of the problems hes encountered with Louisianas new voter ID laws, the law ostensibly enacted by our legislature to combat voter fraud, a nonexistent problem. Our legislature is thinking ahead. For some context, you may recollect that Louisiana and Mississippi are ranked as the two most corrupt states in the United States. Daniels capacity for empathy is remarkable as you will see in the following. One thing which distinguishes Louisiana is the rate of poverty in the state which is about the highest in the country. So many dubious distinctions. Daniel gave me permission to share this posting from his FB page. Thank you, Daniel. Im moving to a new place. Ive notified the post office and then tried to notify the voters registrar. The process of getting that done highlights how laws disenfranchise the poor: In order to change your address on your voter ID you need, among other things, a Louisiana drivers license. If you dont have an LA drivers license, youll need a Louisiana Special ID. To get the special ID you need, among other things, two secondary documents proving your identity (i.e., not birth certificate, passport, or permanent resident card). They suggest the following: Out-of-state drivers license or ID card Louisiana college ID card Health insurance card You need to bring these, among other things, to the DMV, because you cant get these online. The DMVs are only open 8:00-4:00, M-F. Lets pretend that youre among the tens of millions of working poor who work during those hours every weekday. You cant afford to miss a day of work, because you need that money to pay rent, buy food, etc., and you also cant afford to take a day off, because you cant risk losing your job. Do such people exist? I met a man named Yancy last Spring who was walking to work. He works at a car repair shop and walks 2 miles to get there every day and 2 miles to come back home. He works every day, but doesnt have the luxury of a car. Can he afford to take a day off to walk the 5-6 miles (one direction) necessary to get this LA Special ID? Lets assume that he can afford to risk losing his job and a days pay. What forms of ID does he bring? Hes from LA, so he doesnt have an out-of-state ID card and probably doesnt have a drivers license of any kind. Louisiana College ID card? He cant afford the time or money to go to college. How about a health insurance card? I dont know precisely how much Yancy makes, but I suspect that he falls into the insurance gap of people who make too much money to qualify for Medicaid, but not enough to afford their own insurance.* Lets assume that he doesnt have a health insurance card, because hes too poor. He needs 2 secondary document proving his identity. What kinds are available to poor people? So Yancy has to come up with 2 secondary documents proving his identity, he needs to take a day off from work, risking losing his job or at least not being able to pay for rent/food/utilities/medicine,** and to top it off, it costs $21 to get the ID. That might not sound like much money, but it can mean the difference between having money for food or not for the working poor. And once Yancy gets this Louisiana Special ID, its only a preliminary step in registering to vote. These things are annoying inconveniences for me and others who arent living week to week. For the working poor, however, registering to vote can be an impossibility. And if you happen to already be registered to vote, Republicans are making it harder and harder for the poor to vote by cutting early voting, reducing the number of voting stations in minority communities, and other disenfranchisement efforts.*** *This is only a problem in 24 states. Almost every red state refused the Medicaid expansion. whitehouse.gov/share/medicaid-map **The working poor in most states dont earn enough to pay for all of these. billmoyers/2012/04/02/making-the-rent-on-minimum-wage/
Posted on: Sun, 27 Jul 2014 12:46:50 +0000
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