Wisconsin: Open the DMV, or no voter ID!

[Scuba]

http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/open-the-dmv-or-no-voter

We demand that the DMV be open 7 days per week, for extended hours, before November 4. Otherwise, Governor Walker must halt implementation of the new voter identification laws.

This change in WI law comes only weeks before an important election. It is projected that up to 300,000 legally eligible WI voters will not be able to vote in November because they don't have or won't be able to obtain the required ID in time. I work at the polls and have seen firsthand how difficult it can be for legitimately entitled people to provide the documentation necessary to register even before this new requirement.

Please consider signing the MoveOn petition. Thanks.

[world wide wally]

1. But the SCOTUS has determined that money is an exercise of free speech...not voting

[Jack Rabbit]

2. Done

[1StrongBlackMan]

3. And shouldn't that petition, also ...

include a demand that, upon a showing of financial hardship, identification be issued, free of charge?

[PeaceNikki]

4. The ID is already free and one can now petition for free/assistance in getting supporting docs.

But transportation to/from is still a problem.

[1StrongBlackMan]

5. Okay. That's good ...

Here in Arizona:

The cost for an original, duplicate, or replacement Arizona identification card is $12, but can be waived if you are either: 65 years old or older. Receiving Supplemental Security Income disability payments from the federal government.

www.dmv.org/az-arizona/id-cards.php

Notice what's missing?

All other indicators of financial distress, including U/C, SNAP, Worker's Comp., etc.

And yes, transportation is an issue. Social Advocates should get busy ... One church bus at a time.

[AleksS]

6. It's free IF you know that it can be free and know to ask

It's free IF you know that it can be free and know to ask.

The last I heard, if you don't already know you can get it for free, or think to ask, the DMV was instructed not to release that information. (Has that changed? I heard that a solid year ago.)

[PeaceNikki]

7. I did not have that experience any of the times I have brought people.

I've brought 4 people and in each case they literally asked if it was for voting and advised it was free. All were in Waukesha County, even.

One was less than 3 months after Voter ID was signed and the others have staggered since- as recently as July.

[AleksS]

8. That is good to hear!

I remember the DMV sending memos specifically telling employees to refrain from offering the free ID unless asked.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/09/08/1014626/-Wisconsin-official-tells-DMV-employees-to-refrain-from-offering-information-on-free-voter-IDs#

That was longer ago than I thought--apparently I'm getting old! It's good to hear the DMV has moved forward, at least a bit.

[PeaceNikki]

9. yes, the inconsistency in rules for DMV employees is another problem.

I just read this snip from the ACLU blog on the case filled in Federal Court:

https://www.aclu.org/voting-rights/frank-v-walker-fighting-voter-suppression-wisconsin

[voter id] Violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment because Wisconsin's photo ID law results in the arbitrary treatment of voters trying to get a state ID card.


Eddie Lee Holloway Jr.'s birth certificate says Eddie Junior Holloway and as a result he is no longer able to vote in the state of Wisconsin. DMV employees tell him that his birth certificate is an unacceptable form of ID because the name on it reads "Eddie Junior Holloway," due to a decades-old clerical error. It doesn't matter to the DMV that his father's name — "Eddie Lee Holloway" — is printed on his birth certificate, and that Eddie has a Social Security Card and an expired Illinois photo ID both bearing the name "Eddie L Holloway Jr". Eddie says, "I never miss voting" and has rarely missed a chance to cast a ballot since he was 18. He worked in Illinois for years as a cook at the airport and Claire's Family Restaurant, and he cooked in nursing homes too. Years of heavy lifting and hard work left him severely disabled, unemployed, and homeless — in that order. He now lives with his mother in Milwaukee but cannot secure the disability benefits and medical attention he so badly needs due to a lack of photo ID.