I’m writing today to ask the Kos community to create something. But first, how I came to this idea:
I am an almost-60-year-old woman in a state with not particularly onerous drivers license laws. Yet it has taken me 35 days and over $50 to get the necessary paperwork for a “Real ID” which will be required of all citizens in 2018.
By 2020, this Bush-era law will be fully implemented and Real ID will be the national standard. If you don’t have a Real ID, you won’t be able to get on a plane without bringing your birth certificate or other documentation. If you don’t have proper ID, you won’t be allowed to fly.
Now, it hasn’t been too expensive for me, really. It’s just that my original birth certificate actually disintegrated (did I mention I’m old) and was a black-paper copy most officials won’t accept as proof to begin with. I’ve also been married and divorced—changing my name a couple of times in the process. I’ve lived all over the country, making it interesting to track down documents. The hardest part of the exercise was having to “join” a bunch of websites all over the place.
The Idea:
But this got me to thinking: more and more states are enacting voter suppression laws in the guise of demanding all sorts of voter ID. We’ve all read stories of 90 years olds who couldn’t vote in the last election because no one has a birth certificate for them, and they haven’t had a driver’s license in forever. Folks in low-income situations don’t always have driver’s licenses or other ID.
I’m also looking at the calendar, and the 2018 vote is coming up very quickly.
So we need to create a group of volunteers who will go out and help people sign up for IDs and any other bogus “requirement” to vote in their state.
I realize there once was ACORN that did that. How can we rebuild a similar organization? Who could fund such a group? I would happily work in the Reno area. I bet a lot of people like you would give hours to that. I’m sure we’d need some lawyers for the thornier cases.
Who can help create this? Any thoughts? Let’s get on this!
Monday, Feb 6, 2017 · 5:23:19 PM +00:00
·
GrumpyDem
Due to the amazing reaction this small post got, I am trying to put together a group and maybe help coordinate some action. It’s called ORANGE the Vote, but I am having a heck of a time trying to make the interface work. I will try and get Kos folks to sort me out. If you can’t sign up to the group, KosMail me and I will add me when I get my sh*t together. THANKS!!!