Remember the
story of Dorothy Cooper, the 96-year-old Tennessee woman who's only missed one election in her life, but now can't get an ID that would allow her to vote? Tennessee recently passed a new law to keep people like Cooper from voting, requiring often difficult to obtain photo IDs. Cooper couldn't get hers because she doesn't have a marriage certificate, despite having "a rent receipt, a copy of her lease, her voter registration card and her birth certificate."
Now she's joined by 91-year-old Virginia Lasater, also in Tennessee, who wasn't physically able to stand in line at the DMV to receive her ID.
MURFREESBORO — Ninety-one-year-old Virginia Lasater has voted and worked in campaigns for some 70 years. But Wednesday she ran head-long into the barrier Tennessee's new voter photo ID law is throwing up for some elderly people.
Recently moved to Murfreesboro from her farm in Lewisburg to live with son, Richard Lasater, she registered to vote Wednesday at the Rutherford County Election Commission office but that afternoon found herself facing long lines at the driver's license testing center in Murfreesboro. She's never had a photo ID on her license, even though she's still capable of driving and goes to Sunday school.
Aided by a walking cane to get around, she quickly decided she couldn't stand up long enough to wait and her son could find no chairs available for her to sit. Richard estimated at least 100 people were in the building, and workers were "way overworked and way understaffed." He was told at the help desk there was nothing they could do but wait. [...]
Mrs. Lasater surmises she might vote absentee if necessary. Otherwise, she says with a wry grin she'll consider moving back home to Lewisburg because "they know me there."
Ketron's office confirmed Thursday evening that the Lasaters informed them that absentee voting is a likely option.
Meanwhile, the No Barriers to the Ballot Coalition of Tennessee said in a Thursday news release that it will support the bill to repeal the law. The group is a coalition of organizations behind a state-wide petition drive to repeal the law.
Mrs. Lasater says she knows what's behind this: "'It really makes me about halfway mad because I know what's going on,' says Mrs. Lasater. She's 'absolutely' sure the law is part of a Republican strategy to keep senior citizens from voting." You got that one nailed, Mrs. Lasater.