GBO NEWS SPECIAL ISSUE: Ageism in Voter-ID Laws & How to Report It
GENERATIONS BEAT ONLINE NEWS
E-News of the Journalists Network on Generations
May 24, 2016 — Volume 16, Number 9
Editor’s Note: GBO News, e-news of the Journalists Network on Generation publishes alerts for journalists, producers and authors covering generational issues. Send your news of important stories or books (by you and others), fellowships, awards or pertinent kvetches to GBO News Editor Paul Kleyman. You can subscribe to GBONews.org at no charge simply by sending a request to Paul with your name, address, phone number and editorial affiliation or note that you freelance. You’ll receive the table of contents as e-mail, just click through to the full issue at www.gbonews.org.
IN THIS ISSUE: Memories in the corners of our history.
1. VOTE SUPPRESSION, ELDERS AND THE SPIRIT OF ‘MISS JANE PITTMAN’
2. GOOD SOURCES: On Voter-ID and Related Issues
3. A GERONTOLOGIST FOR CONGRESS? A WHAT?: Social Security Works Co-Founder Eric Kingson’s Run for Congress
1. VOTE SUPPRESSION, ELDERS AND THE SPIRIT OF ‘MISS JANE PITTMAN’
Introductory note: Voting in America–to this editor the issue is personal. While many states are actually making voting easier, other state lawmakers recently have tried hiding their bigotry behind morally corrupt voting rules not seen since Southern poll taxes were finally outlawed in the 1960s. Over a half century ago, I found myself in Baton Rouge, La., standing by the porch of an old, clapboard house and watching a very elderly African American woman in a rocking chair. I don’t recall her name, only that this child of former slaves was in her 90s and had learned that for the first time in her life she would enjoy the right to vote, thanks to passage of the Voting Rights Act.
Although her features have faded from my memory, the dignity of her posture, head held so high above her cotton print dress, continues to straighten my resolve about that precious right to vote and the fight to exercise it that took so many lives.
That elder would be part of a press conference later that very hot day. Those of us in Louisiana for the summer of 1965 to work with the Congress of Racial Equality were asked not to bother her, since she needed to conserve her energy to answer reporters’ questions later. No matter, though: I think I was too awestruck to try talking with her. I’d think of her again only a few years later when Louisiana writer Earnest J. Gaines published his novel, The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, later played so memorably by Cicely Tyson in the film version. As I’d learn from interviews I’d read with Gaines and others, my “Miss Pittman” was one of many throughout the South, survivors who would live to see a new day.
But thanks to narrow decisions nullifying part of the voting law by the U.S. Supreme Court, here we are again, not a blatantly as before, perhaps, but often with the same ugly results.
This special issue of GBONews was sparked by the efforts of my colleagues at New America Media (NAM) to inform reporters around the country on voter-restriction issues and sources journalists can tap in their coverage of Election 2016. This is the time for reporters on the generations beat to raise questions about what their state leaders are doing either to ease voting for seniors, such as by simplifying mail-in ballots, or to erect barriers.
A total of 33 states have laws requesting or requiring voters to show some form of identification at the polls this year. (West Virginia’s new law goes into effect in 2018). Of those, 17 states will have restrictive voter-identification laws on the books for the first time in a presidential election, according to New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice.
Mostly, the impact on lower-income minorities and immigrants has been focused on new requirements that voters provide photo ID cards at the polls. But one group unexpectedly affected has been seniors–particularly black, Latino and other ethnic elders, who may have trouble obtaining required documents.
As we approach this Memorial Day, this editor finds himself steeped in a rough nostalgia. I have to wonder whether American society, somewhere between the High Court of Chief Justice John Roberts and the candidacy of Donald J. Trump, may succumb to the bland chatter of 24/7 news cycle or hear our profession reporting the truth to the powerful. Failure to do so may well yield a future generation of Miss Jane Pittman’s looking sternly back on the injustices of our times.
Following is an overview of the elder impact and some good sources for GBONews readers.
The Voter Disadvantage–Proving You Were Born
“Voter ID laws disadvantaging older persons [place a burden on] the voting rights of those most likely to participate in the electoral process,” said Daniel Kohrman, a senior attorney with the AARP Foundation Litigation office in Washington, D.C. That’s because older citizens vote at greater percentages than younger people.
“With voter IDs, you can imagine that especially for a lot of African American elders, who were born in segregated hospitals, their records may not exist any longer. So you will see, definitely, disproportionate impact for them,” stated Judith Browne Dianis, co-director of the Advancement Project, a racial-justice organization based in Washington.
Dianis added, “Also, for women elders who have to provide a marriage certificate that may be very old, or not exist any longer, to show the change in their name from their birth certificate, that may become a barrier.”
Other practical barriers to voting have emerged, such as Arizona’s decision to reduce polling sites in this year’s primary election from 200 to only 60, causing long lines and forcing many to travel long distances.
“In Florida in the 2012 election,” Dianis recalled, “a 93-year-old women had to stand in line for hours.” Speaking during a recent New America Media (NAM) telephone media briefing, she stressed, “That is a little taxing, and seniors may decide it’s not worth it.”
According to the Brennan Center, difficulties in states like Arizona and North Carolina primaries could provide “an early glimpse of problems in November — as voters face the first presidential election in 50 years without the full protections of the Voting Rights Act, which was designed to prevent discrimination in voting.”
Both Positive and Negative Changes
Since the U.S. Supreme Court nullified a key provision of the act in 2013, though, many states have actually strengthened their voter registration laws, such as initiating automatic voter registration for drivers and others interacting with government agencies.
The Brennan Center stresses that the trend this election year is toward greater access, including almost 425 bills pending in 41 states and the District of Columbia. (Some states have proposals going in both directions.)
Meanwhile, though, at least 77 new bills — besides those passed in the 17 states — are being considered in 28 states would restrict access to registration and voting.
Although voter ID advocates allege that the limitations can prevent voter fraud, which has never emerged as a significant problem, those supporting more open rules, cite indications that voting restraints can sway elections.
Speaking during the NAM media briefing, Anita Earls, executive director of the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, in Durham, N.C., said that state’s past three gubernatorial elections “have been decided by less than 30,000 votes and that the vote-suppression laws that have been put in place have disenfranchised more than 30,000 people.”
In an e-mail interview, AARP’s Kohrman described the complicated effect voter ID laws can have on seniors. Minnesota’s Legislature placed a referendum on the ballot in 2012that would have required a photo ID and eliminated the state’s same-day voter registration.
Joining an effort to block the measure, Kohrman said, AARP filed a brief with the Minnesota Supreme Court that included the story of Evelyn Collier, an African-American of 79. She said she had “voted in nearly every election” since moving to Minnesota in the 1980’s.
At the time, Collier lived in a Minneapolis nursing facility, where she first encountered difficulty with photo-ID rules over her seemingly innocuous desire to join others on a field trip. Going on the ride required residents to show a photo ID. Kohrman explained, “She contacted state and local officials in Mississippi, where she was born, ‘on a farm by a midwife’” in the 1930s. The answer: “No record found.”
When the Minnesota court allowed the referendum on the ballot, Kohrman said, “Collier was faced not only with being unable to travel, also with being unable to vote.” On election day, though, the state voted down the restriction, he said, as did Montana voters of a similar referendum in 2014.
Not only seniors face these kinds of hurdles, but also eligible voters who are disabled, minority of any age, geographically isolated or low-income.
Kohrman emphasized that a significant percentage of older adults, “and an even larger share of older people of color, never were issued a birth certificate at all,” according to studies of people born in the 1940s and 1950s, particularly affecting African Americans and Latinos.
Earlier in May, AARP filed an amicus curiae (“friend of the court”) brief in the latest challenge to the Texas voter ID case before the full Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. Kohrman said they are considering similar action in a Fourth Circuit case involving North Carolina. However, he expects both laws to remain in effect through this November’s election, as these and other cases wend their way up the appeals courts.
Other Roadblacks for Senior Voters
AARP briefs and other sources have described additional kinds of challenges that Voter ID laws may pose for older people. For example:
*Records of those not born in hospitals, if they exist, frequently have mistakes. Or birth documents may have been destroyed when old courthouses burned down or were replaced.
*Seniors with mobility impairments may by isolated, such as in nursing homes, Indian reservations or rural towns. Many may not be able to afford transportation to state offices to apply for a photo ID.
*Although some voter-ID statutes, such as Texas’s Senate Bill 14, exempt people with disabilities, such provisions may only apply to voters verified as disabled, such as those receiving Social Security or Veterans’ Affairs disability benefits.
*Voter-ID laws in some states, such as Indiana, require one’s name to match the voting rolls. But before 1974, Indiana compelled a woman to change her maiden name legally when she got married, forcing would-be voters to document both their birth and married names.
*Even though a state law may stipulate that ID cards be available for free, AARP noted there might still be cost burdens for lower-income seniors. For example, a birth certificate in Indiana may cost up to $60. Add charges for transportation, postage or shipping, and expenses may prove prohibitive.
Various states have allowed exceptions. For instance, North Carolina’s law accepts an expired driver’s license, if it lapsed after the person turned 70, said Anita Earls, of the Southern Coalition for Social Justice.
And the rules in both North and South Carolina include a “reasonable impediments provision” exempting those facing a formidable barrier, such as to obtaining a birth certificate, from having to get a new photo ID. “The problem is that it’s not always being administered correctly or fairly,” she said.
More Hurdles to Voting
Earls also noted that some states have made it easier to vote absentee by mail–and avoid getting to a polling place on election day.
Beside hurdles posed by the new ID laws, Earls stressed that older voters need to be aware of other kinds of obstacles to exercising their right to vote. Despite most states having rules about who can assist you and under what circumstances, she said, “those are not always fairly applied.”
Usually, she said, people can bring a family member or request assistance in filling out a ballot if reading it is a challenge, “or any aspect of the voting process is going to be impacted by health or other issues associated with aging.”
She also noted federal language-translation requirements under Section 203 of the Voting Right Act. The law says that a county or municipality must translate and make available ballot materials in languages spoken by “more than 10,000 or over 5 percent of the total voting age citizens … who are members of a single minority language group, have depressed literacy rates, and do not speak English very well.”
Earls suggested that voters of any age encountering trouble on election day can get legal advice for their state by calling 866-OURVOTE (866-687-8683). This hotline connects voters with a volunteer network of attorneys able to help, such as when a voter has been turned away from the polls. Often, she said, Latino citizens can be put on the line with a Spanish-speaking attorney.
People can also call the hotline for basic information, she said, such as on where to find their polling place, or what will materiel they will need to be able to vote?
Other services are also available, she said, such as the nonpartisan website, www.nonprofitvote.org. It provides every state’s rules, including how to register to vote, whether there’s an ID requirement, and what’s the rule for people with felony convictions.
Furthermore, she said, people can find essential information on the websites of their state board of elections or secretary of state’s office.
2. GOOD SOURCES
Following is a list of sources journalists on the generations beat may find helpful for reporting on voting issues — for better or for worse — in your areas.
1. To arrange an interview with Daniel Kohrman or other attorneys at AARP Foundation Litigation, contact David Nathan, DNathan@aarp.org; phone 202-434-2560.
2. For Judith Browne Dianis or others at the Advancement Project, in Washington, D.C., contact Victoria Wenger, vwenger@advancementproject.org; office: 202-728-9557, cell 603-686-1647.
3. Dale Ho, Director, Voting Rights Project, American Civil Liberties Union: Contact Inga Sarda-Sorensen, office: 212.284.7347;cell: 347.514.3984; isarda-sorensen@aclu.org.
4. National Conference of State Legislatures, website on “Voter Identification Requirements/Voter ID Laws” includes a searchable map of the United States, and sections with lots of basic factual information.
5. Anita S. Earls, Executive Director, Southern Coalition for Social Justice, Durham, N.C., 919-794-4198 (direct dial); 919-606-8473 (cell); www.southerncoalition.org; anita@scsj.org. Unfortunately, while very dedicated and extremely knowledgeable, she doesn’t readily respond to reporters’ calls or e-mails. But give her a try.
6. Nonprofitvote.org is one of several websites that provides the rules for every state, including how to register to vote, whether there’s an ID requirement, and what’s the rule for people with felony convictions, also an important issue in aging, since so many being released from prisons now are older.
7. “Voter ID Laws in the United States,” Wikipedia.
If you have others to suggest, please let me know at pkleyman@newamericamedia.org.
8. New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice.
3. A GERONTOLOGIST FOR CONGRESS? A WHAT?
“Is There a Gerontologist in the House?” is a two-minute campaign video, which elicits one young man’s the on-the-street-interview reply, “I have no idea. Does it have something to do with . . . digestion?” The video was created for the Syracuse University expert in aging, Eric Kingson, one of three Democrats hoping to block GOP incumbent John Kato from winning a second term in Congress.
In fact, New York’s usually-Democratic 24th district has changed party hands four times in the last four elections. The website Ballotpedia rates the election as “a race to watch.” And the Cook Political Report designated the contest as a “tossup.”
But our old friend and source Kingson, co-founder of the successful advocacy group, Social Security Works, and co-author of the book of the same title, has an uphill slog in the June 28 primary against two other Dem challengers. The favorite, endorsed by U.S. Senators Chuck Schumer (Amy’s uncle, if you didn’t know), and Kirsten Gillibrand, is Colleen Deacon. The third candidate, Steven Williams, is a business guy. The trio was interviewed together on WRVO Public Radio (May 21).
Kingson, 69, has spoken on Social Security to the Journalists in Aging Fellows program, sponsored by New America Media and the Gerontological Society of American (GSA) in cooperation with GBONews parent the Journalists Network on Generations.
He told GBONews that he’s hopeful. If the three-way race is tight, he believes he’ll need only about 7,000 votes to win and take on Kato in November. Well, Kingson, to whom GSA bestowed its prestigious Kent Award last year will have quite a tale to tell when he delivers his awards lecture at the society’s annual meeting in New Orleans next fall, either on what he’s learned on the front lines of our political process, or, just maybe, as the fifth U.S. Representative in the last decade from the 24th district of New York. The first big challenge–getting used to the House cafeteria’s famous navy bean soup.
By the way, for president Kingson has endorsed Sen. Bernie Sanders, who provided a laudatory jacket blurb for his book–but is yet to return the campaign endorsement. Interested reporters can contact him at eric@erickingson.com; 315-374-8338.
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The Journalists Network on Generations (JNG), founded in 1993, publishes Generations Beat Online with in-kind support from New America Media (NAM). JNG provides information and networking opportunities for journalists covering generational issues, but not those representing services, products or lobbying agendas. NAM is an online, nonprofit news service reaching 3,000 ethnic media outlets in the United States. GBO News readers are invited to visit the NAM website, and click on the Ethnic Elders section logo on the right side. Opinions expressed in GBO do not represent those of NAM. Copyright 2016, JNG. For more information contact GBO Editor Paul Kleyman.
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