My 74-year-old mother doesn’t drive and doesn’t possess photo identification.
Yesterday, my wife took her to the Driver License Center to get one. Here’s what to look out for in case you or someone you know needs photo identification in order to vote in Pennsylvania. Don’t make the same mistakes we did and please don’t delay.
If you’re in need of a photo ID to vote in PA, do it sooner rather than later. My mother doesn’t drive but has never missed a vote, either in a general or a primary election. She certainly isn’t going to miss this year’s vote, either. I printed out the necessary forms last week, and she was armed with her Social Security card, birth certificate, and two utility bills to prove her residency.
First “mistake”: The surname on her birth certificate is different from that on her utility bills. Why? Well, because like most 74-year-old women, she got married a while back and has had a different last name for the last 50-plus years. The gentleman at the counter wouldn’t accept her birth certificate, so my wife took her back home, where my mother procured her marriage license.
Trip two was successful, and my mother was issued a “temporary” photo ID and told her “official” ID would be mailed to her within two weeks. This raises some alarms with me, because anyone who has gotten their license renewed or has acquired a state-issued photo ID in the past has been handed their new ID instantly.
The bottom line is this: If a Pennsylvania resident waits until the end of October to get a photo ID, he/she won’t receive the “official” ID until after the November 6 election and will probably have to fill out a provisional ballot on election day. Who knows what will happen to those, seeing how we have a Republican governor, Tom Corbett.
It strikes me that PA will be as important in 2012 as it was in 2008, when Sen. John McCain damn near started living here from mid-September on. There’s probably no path to victory for Mitt Romney without turning Pennsylvania red.
I implore any Pennsylvanian who doesn’t have a state-sanctioned photo ID card to get one as soon as possible. Yes, the Pens/Flyers series has been entertaining, but this stuff, unlike sports, actually matters. If you haven’t started the process of acquiring an ID yet, start today. Download and print out the paperwork:
To get started, here’s the basic information about Pennsylvania’s new Voter ID law:
http://www.dmv.state.pa.us/...
Here’s the oath you’ll have to sign, declaring you don’t have any other acceptable form of photo ID:
http://www.dmv.state.pa.us/...
Here’s the actual application:
http://www.dmv.state.pa.us/...
And if you’re like my mother, and your last name has changed and is in conflict with your other forms of identification, you’ll probably want to bring your marriage certificate, too.
Keep in mind that the usual $13.50 fee will be waived for people getting photo IDs for the purposes of voting.
Gov. Tom Corbett and his soulless minions are hell-bent on throwing up roadblocks to democracy worthy of the Jim Crow-era South.
Let’s have the last laugh on November 6.