In January 2021 I retired and drove 2,200 miles to my new home. I arrived, unpacked, settled in and headed to the DMV. The woman at the window examined my ID, said it is expired and handed it back to me. I looked and sure enough, it was my old, expired driver’s license. I recalled the night I cleaned out my purse and switched to a smaller wallet. I’d made two piles, one to throw away and one for the new, smaller wallet. I must have been tired and thrown out the wrong pile.
I rushed home, tore through every file and folder I brought with me. I found my original social security card with my maiden name on it, but not the one with my married name - a problem men never have to deal with. My passport is expired. I have my birth certificate with the purple stamp, but my marriage certificate is a copy. Social Security does not accept copies.
Suddenly, I was in ID hell.
Without photo ID I cannot board a plane. I can’t even open a bank account. I cannot register to vote. Even doctor’s offices ask for a photo ID. I cannot drive a car and live 58 miles away from a social security office.
I try everything I can think of, but there is no getting around it. Photo ID begins with a social security card. But Social Security wants a photo ID and will not accept my expired driver’s license or expired passport. They want a current photo ID.
I worked on fighter jets (my fingerprints and photo are on file with the military and the federal government). I taught school (my fingerprints and photo are on file with law enforcement). My cell phone reads my fingerprint and my face.
My fingerprints will not do, I must have a current photo ID to get a replacement social security card. Well, I don’t have one, so I begin the process of getting a new social security card without photo ID.
May 2021, California sends me a letter, informing me that I am being removed from the voter rolls. They do not ask for photo ID.
25 October 2021 my new social security card arrives in the mail, and I make an appointment at the DMV. If I’m lucky, sometime in November, I might have photo ID. I am not holding my breath.
I have spent hours and hours and hours dealing with documents and forms. Every phone call, I sit on hold for at least an hour. One time, I sat on hold for two hours and 31 minutes.
If I was still working a full-time job, it would have been impossible to meet all the requirements it takes to get a replacement social security card, so I could get a photo ID, so I could vote.
Congressmen and Senators know how hard it is to get a photo ID. I KNOW because I called their offices to ask for help. They promised to get back to me. I’ve been waiting 8 months for their call.
If this had happened in 2020, instead of 2021, I would not have been able to vote in the presidential election. In my mind, failing to make sure I can exercise my constitutional right to vote, is voter suppression.
