Dear John, Right now, the Senate is considering the SAVE Act, a voter suppression bill that would require eligible voters to prove their citizenship if they want to register to vote.
Believe it or not, millions of eligible voters lack ready access to those kinds of documents, and getting them isn't always easy OR cheap. At VoteRiders, we understand the barriers and difficulties of getting ID documents like a birth certificate or passport, because over the years we've helped tens of thousands of people to secure these documents.
If the SAVE Act is enacted, millions of voters like them would be unable to register or stay registered to vote without extensive help. Without support, they likely won't be able to overcome the document costs, transportation struggles, and legal hurdles they face in order to secure the documents that would be required to participate in our democracy.
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Julie in Oklahoma was unable to prove her identity because her birth certificate didn't match her current legal name and she didn't have a copy of her marriage license from 1984. She was told to contact the Oklahoma County Clerk's Offices to track the license down, but no one there could locate it. Then Julie became gravely ill, had to be hospitalized, and lost half her liver due to complications during surgery.
When Julie came to VoteRiders for help, a volunteer contacted the Oklahoma County Clerk's office and was told her marriage license did not exist. Finally, after VoteRiders escalated the issue to Julie's Oklahoma state representative, her marriage license was found. Altogether, it took Julie five years to finally get a state ID with her legal name on it. |
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Prentiss had recently moved to North Carolina but was born in Ohio and didn't have a copy of his birth certificate. VoteRiders helped Prentiss order a copy of his birth certificate from Ohio online and covered the cost. But, when it finally arrived after several weeks, it wasn't even his — it belonged to someone else.
VoteRiders contacted the Ohio Vital Records Office, returned the incorrect birth certificate, and requested Prentiss' birth certificate a second time. Five weeks passed. Finally, through a contact at the Ohio Vital Records Office, VoteRiders was able to get Ohio to issue the correct birth certificate. The entire process took over two months. |
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Jemmie in Indiana applied for a copy of her Ohio birth certificate when she moved from Tennessee to Indiana and needed to update her ID. When the birth certificate arrived, Jemmie was shocked to discover that her first and middle names were spelled differently, and her last name listed was not the one she'd used her entire life. This also meant her birth certificate conflicted with her Social Security card and previous state IDs.
VoteRiders was able to connect Jemmie with a volunteer attorney who drafted the affidavit Jemmie had to file in order to request the name on her birth certificate be changed. VoteRiders also paid for Jemmie to get the affidavit notarized. A month after the affidavit was filed, her birth certificate was finally corrected and she was able to order a new copy of it.
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No one should ever lose their right to vote because a clerk lost their marriage certificate, or because they were sent the wrong birth certificate. Thank you for using your voice to stop this dangerous voter suppression bill. In solidarity, Kiayna O’Neal Digital and Communications Director VoteRiders
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VoteRiders is a 501(c)(3) nonpartisan nonprofit organization registered in the US under EIN 45-5081831. VoteRiders
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