How Efforts to Swing the Vote Hurt Adoptees and No One Cares
Voter IDs laws have been talked about in the news for some time now. Supporters say the laws are needed to combat voter fraud, while others see Voter ID laws as a move used to disenfranchise voters. Can adopted adults be included in that?
The Voter ID laws are supposed to stop any impersonator trying to cast a ballot in someone else’s name and require that registered voters show ID before they’re allowed to vote. Prior to the 2006 election, no state ever required a voter to produce a government-issued photo ID as a condition to voting. I will refrain from saying anything about the Bush II/Gore campaign where I am sure the thrown election had nothing to do with real people faking votes and after 2000, the RNC realized that they couldn’t pull THAT one off again. Hence, the need for “Voter ID Laws”.
It appears that Voter ID Laws have Republican support as these laws disproportionately affect elderly, minority and low-income groups that tend to vote Democratic, making it harder to vote non-Republican.
Occurrences of Voter Fraud
Previous to 2000, voter fraud wasn’t really an issue. There have been only a small number of fraud cases according to the New York Times.
Although Republican activists have repeatedly said fraud is so widespread that it has corrupted the political process and, possibly, cost the party election victories, about 120 people have been charged and 86 convicted as of last year.
So last week, Rachel Maddow reported that the Republican National Committee had to STOP registering new voters in the very important swing states because of voter fraud! While the RNC has stopped the $2.9 million contract with Strategic Allied Consulting, the fact is that NOW we have a great case of TRUE voter fraud!
Republican parties in Florida, Colorado, Nevada, North Carolina and Virginia — all states that both campaigns view as competitive — fired Glen Allen, Virginia-based Strategic Allied Consulting, the company in charge of registrations, said Kirsten Kukowski, a spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee. The national committee also canceled its contract with the company, its only vendor signing up new voters, Kukowski said.
The question is will Republicans use this to support more Voter ID Laws? Probably.
So What’s the Big Deal About Voter ID Laws?
Obtaining photo ID can be costly and burdensome, with even free state ID requiring documents like a birth certificate that can cost up to $25 in some places. Exactly what they need to show varies. Some states require a government-issued photo, while in others a current utility bill or bank statement is sufficient.
If you want to see how the states stack up, our pals at the NCLS have a great Voter ID map and list here. This one is NOT interactive, but will do the trick!
How Voter ID Laws Relate to Adoption
Some Adoptees already have issues with proving who they are because they are denied access to their original birth certificates (OBC). While the amended birth certificate (ABC) is issued upon finalization of their adoptions, sometime the ABC looks slightly different depending on the state that has issued it. Most government bureaucrats don’t understand why an adoptee has only the ABC, and cannot get the OBC.
For example, since 9-11, Homeland Security has said that any birth certificate issued more than a year after the birth of an individual is to be “red flagged”. Of course, many adoptees did not have their adoption finalized before they were 1 year old and obviously this is an issue with adopting older children out of foster care. The passport folks don’t know adoption and don’t care, they just know they require the long form, pre dated birth certificate. They don’t understand why the state government would seal it. They just know they need it to grant a passport. Guess who gets denied the passport? The Adoptee.
Can Voter ID Laws Make it Hard for Adoptees to Vote?
If it’s anything like the new passport regulations, I do believe it can.
About 11 percent of U.S. citizens, or roughly 21 million citizens, don’t have government-issued photo ID. This figure doesn’t represent all voters likely to vote, just those eligible to vote. The analysis also found that those who lack valid photo ID tended to be young people, those without college educations, Hispanics and the poor.
Now out of the 6 million plus adoptees in the country, we can assume that many of them already have some form of ID and are registered to vote, but what if they are not? What if they are forced by the government, to produce their long form original birth certificate and they cannot because it’s sealed by the very same state government?
Are we ready, as a country, to further deny an American Citizen their RIGHT to VOTE based on their circumstance that they were born in? I hope not.
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