Sunday, May 20, 2012

She's 96 and she thinks she should vote



A Republican state legislature is not so sure.

Since I'm a citizen, I think I should vote. … It make you feel kind of aggravated .. I feel mad.

To get one of Tennessee's new voter cards, she had to produce five pieces of identification. Five pieces of paper for one old lady who has been voting all her life!

I've been reading Robert Caro's latest installment of his enormous biography of President Lyndon Johnson. He remarks that Virginia Senator Harry Byrd never had to worry about re-election despite his vicious hatred of his Black constituents. In the 1960s, only 17 percent of the potential electorate voted in that state because of a combination of poll taxes and other impediments to voting.

There are politicians now in office who would be happy to go back to those simpler (whiter) days.

Whatever we may feel about the current President, we have to be glad that his campaign is organizing to help citizens get through the local hoops with this site. Check it out. It looks usable.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I took my grandmother to get a voter ID, she is 96. I took the day off from work, She has a hard time getting in and out of cars, she has a walker and a hard time standing. There were no chairs at the DMV. I was rather aggressive at the counter to get her to the fromt of the line, it only cost$28It should have been free, but the woman was not about to let me and my grandmothger off that easy. Sad to say My grandmother will probably vote for republicans, as she is a single issue voter (abortion) I wonder. Getting my grandmother a voter ID was a big hairy deal. If I include, gas, time off from work and childcare, as well as the aforementioned $28 it probably cost me $240 to help my grandmother vote. I wonder how many other elderly people have that kind of support going toward them?
~geezermom