The following note was written my my wife, Mrs. Sad Iron, who took her mother to the Wisconsin DMV to get a driver's license--they soon got a quick look into what voter ID laws are all about in places like Fitzwalkerstan.
On Thursday, August 26, 2011, I accompanied my mother Ruth, who has just moved to WI from Ohio, to the Brown County DMV to obtain her Wisconsin Driver's license. This was our third trip in 2 weeks. It was "successful," in that we got what we came for. But it was also distressing, hostile, and as my mother put it, "sad."
The first time we went to the DMV, arriving at 9 am, we walked into a room so crowded and rank with summer sweat, we decided to wait for another day.
The second time we went to the DMV, we were first in line at 9:30 am, and a line of 30+people formed behind us before the place opened at 10 am. During that visit, my mother was able to get her car registration transferred, but not a license. The man at the "information" counter deemed that her proof of residency was unacceptable.
You Are Not Here* (*unless you want to pay for plates. Then, by all means: You Are Here!)
Wisconsin has also just enacted a new Voter ID law, requiring a photo ID for a person to exercise his/her constitutional right to vote.
Here's what the WI DMV's website says will prove one's residency for a PHOTO ID card or DRIVER'S LICENSE:
The following documents are acceptable proof of Wisconsin residency when they include your name and current Wisconsin residence street address:
1. Employee photo identification card issued by your current employer, containing your employer's name and address. Your employer's telephone number may be required for verification.
2. Pay check or stub or earning statement with your name and Wisconsin address, and your employer's name and address, issued within the last 90 days. Your employer's telephone number may be required for verification.
3. A utility bill for water, gas, electricity or landline telephone service issued within the last 90 days. Cable or similar bundles of services that include landline telephone service is included in this category. Electronic copies are acceptable.
4. An account statement from a Wisconsin bank/financial institution issued within the last 90 days. This includes savings, checking or money market accounts held in banks or credit unions. Electronic copies are acceptable.
5. Certified school record or transcript that identifies you by name, shows your current address and is issued within the last 90 days for the most recent school period.
6. Mortgage documents for a residential property located in Wisconsin.
7. Your current valid homeowner, renter or motor vehicle insurance policy dated within one year of application.
8. Government-issued correspondence or product issued within the last 90 days from a federal, state, county or city agency.
9. Department of Corrections documentation: Letters from probation/parole agents on letterhead issued within the last 90 days.
10. Your college enrollment documentation or Form 2019, Certificate of Eligibility for Exchange Visitor (J-1) Status with your current Wisconsin address.
So, here's the thing. Like so many parents of adult children, or adult children living with parents, or young people, or unemployed people, or the self-employed people-- or basically, like so many other huge swaths of the population of any state-- my mother cannot easily meet these restrictions. Why?
1. My mother moved in with me. She is not a homeowner in WI.
2. Accordingly, my husband and I carry the homeowner's insurance.
3. Accordingly, my husband and I have the utilities in our name. We do not charge her rent.
4. My mother is working remotely from her law firm in Toledo, and is for all intents and purposes retired in WI. She has no earnings statements from a WI employer. She has no photo ID from a WI employer.
5. My mother will not be opening a Wisconsin bank account (although if she did, there's some question about if the activity would measure up, see here: http://www.bradblog.com/...) since she does her banking online through an international financial institution.
6. My mother, thank God, has no correspondence from the Dept. of Corrections (for now!). She is also not enrolled in school.
On our second visit, my mother attempted to show her Medicare Insurance card (correspondence from a fed govt agency) with her name and the number of a local doctor, but it did not have her address on it. She also showed a book of checks from her financial institution with her Wisconsin address printed on them. She was refused a license on that second visit.
However, during our second visit, she was able to obtain her vehicle registration, which has a less stringent policy as long as you pay the considerable fees. For example, on the website, the language for REGISTERING YOUR CAR states:
When you become a Wisconsin resident, you must register your vehicle and get Wisconsin license plates. You are a Wisconsin resident if:
1. Your principal residence is in this state
2. You pay your income taxes here
3. You are registered to vote here
To review: To register your car, you are a resident if you... live here.
But hey, did you see that other thing up there? Did you see that last line's switcheroo? You are a resident if you vote here. But now, thanks to the new voter ID laws, you cannot vote here if you can't prove you are a resident with a photo ID using the criteria far above.
It's not just clever. It's diabolical. And nonsensical.
The Third Visit, In Which The Police Are Nearly Called on Me and My Mother
Back to Thursday, August 25, 2011. We arrive at 9:45 and are about the 25th people in line. The place opens at 10 am. The line reaches the parking lot by the time the doors open and we make it to the information counter.
Important side note: Ahead of us, the woman who was first in line had 2 small kids with her. She went to the information counter, filled out paper work, and was ready to hand it in. She stared at the huge line (now at least 70 ppl.) trying to figure out how to turn in the paper work she'd been given. "Mama, I have to go potty," her son said, so she exasperatedly took her kids into the restroom.
Since I'd been there the week before, I knew that people who'd already been to the counter and had completed paper work could just make their way up to the front of the line again. But no one else was telling people this. So I followed her into the bathroom and said, "I know this is weird, but I saw you out there and I think you can just take your form to the counter again without waiting in line. If I'm wrong, just do it anyway." She thanked me profusely, because, hey, she has TWO KIDS with her at this crowded DMV, and who knows, perhaps she has a job she's hoping to get to before noon, or perhaps just a place she needs to take those kids...etc. etc. etc..
So then we made it to the Information Counter and began our story. We explained that my mother had moved here, was living with me, no income statements, no utilities, no banks, etc.
My mom presented the following:
1. Her passport
2. Her previous Ohio license
3. Mail with her new WI address on it from her law firm
4. Mail with her new WI address on it from her national banking institution
5. The U.S.P.S-- a federal government agency, see residency req. above--official Change of Address confirmation card with her old and new addresses on it, sent within the last 90 days
And we were informed by the women assisting us that these were not sufficient to prove residency.
So, here's my mother's account of what happened next (also typed up in an e-mail note-- we Meachams use the pen as a sword):
On its front the USPS notice had a banner stating: "official confirmation of address change “and listing both the “ from” and “to” addresses which it was confirming. When I most confidently (but still politely) presented all of this , the clerk said these documents were still insufficient. Less politely, but not demanding, I produced a print out of their website list ,and called her attention to each item in my group and particularly noted the section on the acceptability of letters from a government agency.
I told her that as the USPS was a federal government agency, I had met all of the requirements. The clerk said no-- we don’t accept anything from the post office because anyone can change their address to commit fraud, etc.
In a more lawyerly tone, I informed them that the list did not exclude USPS , and it is a government agency, and said that if they didn't accept what was listed on the web site, I would come back with a State Representative to assist me in completing the application process.
Upon her mention of being an attorney, and her insistence that she'd be back with a State Representative to assist her, a puffy, pasty man working the counter shouted, "Then we'll just call the police and have you forcibly removed from the premises."
"Really?" I asked. "You are really going to call the police on a 72 year old woman who moved here to be with family and grandchildren? This is what you want to do?"
"Well, you are making threats here," said the pasty man.
"You are threatening her privileges, and rights," I said.
The counter women who had been working with us interrupted and said, "Put it through." And they began processing the paperwork that would move us to the next stage in our wait.
The situation de-escalated, and within a few minutes, the woman who had originally declined my mother's residency on ground of potential U.S.P.S. fraud (yes, you've all heard how the elderly are an army of U.S.P.S. defrauders) came back to more kindly, more gently explain her reasoning. "If we process this and it's mailed to you, and then it's not your address on the postal card, then you have to come back with all sorts of items proving your identity."
Huh? Whatever. I thanked her for taking the time to explain to us, nicely, what she had been thinking. But what I was really thanking her for was restoring civility to an exceptionally uncivil situation.
Waiting For Something
Another hour later, when our number was called, a freckled woman began processing our form. She seemed less interested in giving us a hard time. My mother's license picture had already been taken (she did smile, too). The lines were long.
Tip (with bonus irony): It also occurred to us that we could present this clerk with-- that's right-- the WI Vehicle Registration document we'd obtained on our last visit. It was, after all, a recent state government-issued document with her address on it. And so we did.
Now, I asked the freckled clerk, "Is it always like this in here? These lines?"
"Thursdays, yes. I think it's because we open late," she said. Then, almost under her breath, she said, "It doesn't help that half our staff has been cut."
"Was that over time or... recent?" I asked.
"Recent," she said. She gritted her teeth. "I mean, it's not like I don't have a family at home who needs me."
Yes. That was it, exactly. As I escorted my mother, who'd moved here to be with her family, to the door with her approved paperwork in hand, we passed:
1. a 50-ish woman pushing her disabled, disoriented father around in a wheelchair from line to counter to waiting area to counter
2. a young mother holding the hands of two kids, while her foot rocked a newborn in its car seat
3. men and women of working age, including one guy in a suit, who was clearly on a break from work
4. and that mom from the beginning of the day, first in line,with her two little kids, who I chased down in the bathroom
True, not all of them were seeking IDs. True, I don't know their real stories. But I'd bet a huge number of those folks had a lot of other, better, and perhaps wage-earning things to do with their time --as did the loved ones in their care. How many others-- with unyielding schedules, dependents to care for, lack of knowledge, or simple frustration-- didn't even make it into line that day? How many, if refused as we were, would have left and stayed away?
At the DMV, everyone was waiting, waiting, waiting for something we should have had in hand. Efficiency. Access. Civility. Rights. Something that shouldn't seem so far away.
All the while, a state trooper stood behind our freckled clerk, not looking at the crowd. He was making jokes and playing with a figurine: a small pink pig with wings.