Monday, May 15, 2017

Systemic Racism - How it's Done

ID Law insurmountable for some in Wisconsin. 

State Sen. Mary Lazich (R-WI) was adamant: The bill Republicans were about to push through the Wisconsin state Senate, requiring that voters present identification at the polls, would do no harm.
“Not a single voter in this state will be disenfranchised by the ID law,” Lazich promised.

Five years later, in the first presidential election held under the new law, Gladys Harris proved her wrong.

By one estimate, 300,000 eligible voters in the state lacked valid photo IDs heading into the election; it is unknown how many people did not vote because they didn’t have proper identification. But it is not hard to find the Navy veteran whose out-of-state driver’s license did not suffice, or the dying woman whose license had expired, or the recent graduate whose student ID was deficient — or Harris, who at 66 made her way to her polling place despite chronic lung disease and a torn ligament in her knee.

She had lost her driver’s license just before Election Day. Aware of the new law, she brought her Social Security and Medicare cards as well as a county-issued bus pass that displayed her photo.
Not good enough. She had to cast a provisional ballot that ended up not being counted.
To Harris, the injustice is beyond dispute.

“They prevented us from voting,” she said, simply.

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