Letter to the editor in yesterday's Indianapolis Democrat, er, Star:
Trouble obtaining photo ID for senior auntMy 88-year-old Aunt Ernestine can add a face to the debate about the ability of senior adults to obtain picture identification. She is currently a resident of New York City. Due to financial exploitation, the court has named me to serve as her guardian. To move my aunt here, I have been trying to establish her identity and obtain picture ID so that she can be transported on a plane.
When I started the process, my aunt had no documentation to establish her identity, so I tried to obtain her birth certificate from Illinois, which mandates that the request must be accompanied by photo ID. As guardian, I was able to use the court order and my photo identification and did obtain the birth certificate. Since my aunt has no photo identification, she would not be able to obtain her birth certificate at her own request.
Illinois requires photo identification to obtain a birth certificate. Indiana requires a birth certificate to obtain photo identification. I assume that people like my aunt are not supposed to vote.
Ann M. Randall
Indianapolis
First of all: You got the photo ID, why are you bitching?
Secondly: The elections over, the people who were complaining the most about VoterID disenfranchising people got a big surprise -- they won -- so shut up about it already.
Thirdly: Your aunt is 88 years old and doesn't have picture ID? How does she cash her Social Security checks? How does she cash a check, period?
Fourthly and lastly: If she's still a resident of New York -- she doesn't have standing to vote here to begin with!
I'm sorry that Illinois requires picture ID to get a birth certficate (although I am not entirely sure of that; my Peoria-born wife got a certified copy of hers several years ago without needing to send picture ID) and Indiana requires a birth certificate to get a picture ID. Them's the breaks. But as you noted, you were able to get a court order to bypass that, so again, why are you bitching?
The bottom line is that nobody is going to take your word for who you are anymore. We've known that since 9/11, and since illegal immigration became such a large problem, and anyone who wasn't wise enough to document up before now was living in a dream world.
It has nothing to do with not wanting old folks to vote. It has everything to do with Democrats trying to steal elections. Amazingly enough, they won one even though the hated VoterID was in place.
Put a sock in it, Dems. VoterID is here to stay.
