Catch 22: If I didn't already have a TX driver's license, I might not be able to vote!

[Honeycombe8]

I checked into whether a person like myself, born out of state but living in Texas, would be able to get a photo ID easily, in order to vote.

I checked the TX Motor Vehicles website. Assuming I understood it correctly, I would need a certified copy of my birth certificate, in order to get a TX driver's license (govt issued photo ID). That's because I don't have the other primary documents needed (passport, etc.).

So I go to the Louisiana Birth Records site. I'm out of state, so I can't go down there in person. Even if I were in La., I wouldn't be able to take off work to go down there. So I check out ordering a certified birth certificate online.

What do I need to order a certified copy of a La. birth certificate online: Here:

Step 1.
To request Louisiana birth records by mail, you will need to start by filling out an application for a Louisiana Birth Certificate.

Step 2.
You will also need to make a photocopy of your government-issued photo ID to send along with your application.
*****************

What? I need a GOVERNMENT-ISSUED PHOTO ID to get a certified copy of my birth certificate? And yet, in order to get a government-issued photo ID, I need a CERTIFIED COPY OF MY BIRTH CERTIFICATE!

I also CAN'T order it online. I have to mail it in, because La. requires that copy of a govt. photo ID.

That is unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable. If I needed proof that they are TRYING to keep people from voting, this is it. I would have my voting rights taken away, because I was born in a state that has a Catch 22.

BTW, I tried an alternate way of ordering it through VitalCheck, but it just sat there, after I placed the order, running, without ever giving me the order page. So I suspect that it was because it was a state that requires a photo ID, so it wouldn't work. Even if it had worked, the whopping COST of ordering it online, including shipping, was about $50. That would be totally out of the ability to pay of the working poor. ($50 is just for the birth certificate. The govt photo ID would've then been another cost.)

This is definitely the plan. Keep the poor from voting.

[ananda]

1. Holder was right.

This is tantamount to a poll tax, and how many of those
who need a photo ID can afford to travel or pay all of those
fees?

[SickOfTheOnePct]

2. Vital Check is easy, but it is expensive

I had to order a certified copy of my daughter's birth certificate recently, and it was $55. My eyes about popped out of my head.

[Honeycombe8]

5. But I can't use it, because Louisiana requires a copy of a photo ID, so it can't be ordered online.

Pretty soon, more states will be like Louisiana, I suspect.

[SickOfTheOnePct]

6. Got it n/t

[Honeycombe8]

10. In reading further on another site, it says I can use a Kiosk to order IF I fax the required docs.

So maybe ordering online would work, but it just didn't work for me - it got stuck, but I'd STILL have to send in the required documentation. So what would be the point of ordering online or at a kiosk? I could send in the application along with the documentation, and save the third party fee.

It's complicated. Which, I guess, is the point.

[annabanana]

3. kicking for a few more eyes...

disgusting

[pnwmom]

4. K & R.

[targetpractice]

7. I was in your situation in TX, too...

Do you have any valid photo ID from any state?

Currently the Photo ID law is not in effect... So, you'll only need to present your voter registration certificate. Have you registered to vote? If not, it's currently fairly easy to get an application from https://webservices.sos.state.tx.us/vrapp/index.asp

You'll need to provide a TX mailing address in the area you will vote, and the last 4 digits of your social security number. They'll mail an official application... Fill it out, and mail it to your local registrar, and you'll receive an official yellow and white certificate in a couple of weeks. You'll be all set under current law... If the Photo ID law is approved by Eric Holder, you'll still be okay with whatever photo ID you have from another state, passport, too.

I recently moved from NY to TX (under duress) and was wringing my hands over this until I received a self mailer from the NAACP to register. I don't know how they found me, but it was encouraging... It too me 60 seconds to fill out, and I dropped it in the mail. Now I'm registered and can show up with my passport and cast a straight D ticket. I've never voted with anything other than the mechanical lever booths in NYC... So, hopefully my touch screen or chad device will record my intent.

Good luck!

[SoutherDem]

8. Just for fun I checked PA and as I understood the policy the same was true there.

Add to that getting to the DMV, DOT, courthouse or where ever they issue the IDs once you jump through the hoops to get the Birth Certificate I can see how many would be disenfranchised.

I lost my DL several years ago and it took me a whole day to gather the info and waiting in line to get it replaced.

[struggle4progress]

9. They have a secondary documents option

http://new.dhh.louisiana.gov/index.cfm/page/636

[Honeycombe8]

14. I think those are only the originals, if you apply in person or mail them in. Not copies.

If you notice at the bottom of that page, it gives instructions to use a Kiosk. It'll ask you questions only YOU would know the answers to, but if that doesn't work, then what you have to do is mail in a copy of a valid state-issued photo ID (not a secondary document).

From reading all of that, I'm pretty sure you have to send in a photo ID IF you're sending a copy.

But I guess I could send in an original W-2, and my Social Security card (and then request another Social Security card).

It's complicated, no matter how you look at it. Most people wouldn't go through all this, or be able to.

I thinkI'll order mine, though. I don't have a certified copy of my birth certificate.

Plus I think I read somewhere there that I can get only a SHORT form. They don't issue long forms for births before a certain date.

[struggle4progress]

18. I wouldn't send originals of anything to them by mail

I'd send a photocopy of an original W-2 with a photocopy of my original Social Security card, and I'd attach a frickin notarized statement asserting I was the person in question and that this was a photocopy of my W-2 and of my Social Security card

There's a lifetime limit of 10 SS card replacements. You don't want to lose them casually

[Honeycombe8]

22. W-2s come with extra copies, I think. They require the original SS card. It specifically says that.

There's a lifetime limit of 10 SS card replacements? How odd.

I think I'm safe though. I've only had one replacement.

[struggle4progress]

23. I'd call them up and discuss it before I mailed them anything like that

[targetpractice]

12. As you go through this process, get a passport, too!

Just a recommendation... I think everyone should get a passport if, and when they are able, regardless of whether you plan to travel or not. They are valid for 10 years and are always on the list of acceptable photo IDs for everything you'd want to do that requires an official ID — from getting into nightclubs, buying alcohol, leaving/entering the country, replacing other IDs, and most importantly... voting in the United States.

Upon edit: In other words, I hope you go through the effort to get registered and able to vote in TX. I hope TX will go for Obama this year! As you get prepared... I think you should also gather the stuff it takes to get your passport, too... You won't regret the effort.

[Honeycombe8]

13. You have to have a certified copy of a birth cert. to get one. nt

[targetpractice]

15. I understand, but you may not need that to vote in TX.

However, having a certified copy of your birth certificate may be ultimately worth the overcoming the hurdles in order to get one. It can't tell you how much of a relief it was to get my own passport in hand... because it this the gold standard for IDs... better than driver's licenses, or state non-driver photo IDs, student IDs, etc. Passports are accepted everywhere.

I totally understand your situation, and I get when you can't do it you simply can't... I've been there and back again.

Do you want to share your story with us about why you don't happen to have any photo ID?

[Honeycombe8]

16. Well, I have a driver's license. I was trying to see how hard it'd be to get a photo ID if I didn't

if I didn't have one.

I should probably get a passport, anyway, in case I want to travel out of the country. It's unlikely, but just in case.

[targetpractice]

19. Step back for a moment... I think you are good to go...

I called the Texas DMV a few weeks ago when I was in your situation... They answer the phone quickly and are super friendly...

I haven't driven a car since 1992, but I had a New York State photo ID. The TX DMV said I cold do the following...

1) Go to a TX DMV site with my current or recently expired government ID (e.g. federal, passport, driver's license, or state photo ID);

2) Get a TX photo ID without ANY proof of TX address. (I asked again and again if I needed to prove my address. They said that is not a requirement).

3) Pay for it.

4) VOTE!!!

So, Honeycombe8, based upon my research... You should be able to go to any TX DMV with another valid govt or state ID (drivers license from any state) and get a TX state photo ID... You don't need to go through the driver's license process... just get an ID.

If you want to chat... send me a private message, and I'd be happy to share my experience.

[targetpractice]

20. Oh, are you asking a hypothetical question?

I totally agree with your contention that this photo ID requirement is a "poll tax"... If you (as a citizen) are required to jump through hoops that your fellow citizens do not, then that's not fair.

I've been replying to you because I want to make sure you are able to vote.. If you are posing a hypothetical situations... I'll stop typing and simply concur with you.

[Honeycombe8]

21. Yes, it was hypothetical. I was trying to see how hard/easy it would be for a POOR person w/o

certain forms of photo ID (doesn't drive) and who doesn't have cert. copy of birth certificate (most people).

I have a current TX driver's license AND am registered to vote.

I do have one concern: My registration has my middle name as it was when I was born, but my driver's license has my maiden name as my middle name. Same first and last names on both. I figure I can take something, like my divorce papers, to show my whole name including maiden and middle name. I hope.

[progressoid]

17. Question: Are you already registered to vote?