The Tennessee law requiring a photo I.D. will go into effect in January 2012. That is news to some of us in Davidson County (Nashville.) I have been asked to produce this for years even though I suspected it was illegal. On July 23, 2011, I voted early and was confronted with the request (demand) as I was pulling out my driver’s license. I knew it was not the law and that few in my precinct were told to present it. How was I so lucky? I came home and wrote the following about the scene I created.
Image via Wikipedia
I hope my Mayor and Governor and all who make the laws will read this. The Tennessee State Capital was designed and built by William Strickland. He died before it was completed. He was buried inside the building.
This is where the Tennessee state laws are passed.
PRODUCE – Grocery store
“Produce your identification!“
Some days
even my
ID
wont give me (or you)
a clue
about who
I am.
How can I be
validated?
bar-coded?
It got my attention
Checkout lady returned my driver’s license.
“Thank you, Mrs. DC.”
Who is that?
It took me back.
“I was thinking about when I visited Washington,” she said.
“Well, lady, start thinking about me.”
Today I pre-voted.
I bristled having to produce my driver’s license. (She did say or your registration card – something new even though it has no photo.)
My right to say “MY RIGHTS are abridged. Don’t challenge me, lady.”
I said “Honey” polite enough. “I know you are required to ask.”
But she kept on saying,
“What else would keep someone from stealing your vote?”
All I could say was, “I am 84 years old and no ONE ever stole my VOTE.”
Did I tell her about votes stolen at the precincts after the machines are cut off?
Did I say the ballots were floating in the green Chicago River on their way to Central Office?
Did I need to tell her about the POLL TAX or closing the polls in Nashville and Cleveland, leaving the brothers and sisters standing in the rain? Or Florida?
Like YOU asked me.
“What ever would prevent my vote from being stolen…”
“Don’t ask me, ‘honey.’
Ask yourself
’cause I already have the answer to your question.
Then I voted for all the folk on the machine whether I wanted them or not.
Who knew?
My politics is to believe the wiring inside the machine goes to the names on the screen.
Related articles
- Do you have to have a driver’s license to get a motorcycle license (wiki.answers.com)
- Voter Suppression and Voter ID (hcvoice.wordpress.com)
It is truly a sad day in America when a citizen’s right to vote is challenged by an evil mindset, or by some obscure state law or ordinance designed to manipulate the outcome of an election.
And it is particularly disheartening when, for the sake of political gain and/or greed, that any political party would stoop so low as to disenfranchise one’s right to cast a ballot, notwithstanding the fact that it is guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
One would like to think that the technology used for balloting is done so in the spirirt of accuracy and fairness, but given the divisiveness that exists in today’s society, I, unfortunately, hold a measure of skepticism in that regard.
I encourage you to keep up the good fight, and don’t let anyone stand in the way of your constitutional right to cast your vote, regardless of whether you ‘want’ a particular candidate or not!
Thanks for sharing your experience.
Best,
Kevin