Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Politics State Insists Dorothy Cooper Still Must Prove Her Last Name is Cooper
Posted by Jeff Woods on Wed, Oct 5, 2011 at 2:02 PM
Rather than presenting Mrs. Cooper with a photo ID—no more questions asked—they say they will tell her she has yet to finish jumping through their hoops. They say they will require her to rummage around in her house, find acceptable proof that her last name is indeed Cooper and then return to the driver’s license center with this documentation in hand. At that point, in what they apparently see as a great concession, they promise they won’t make her stand in line again.
We talked this afternoon about Mrs. Cooper with Safety Department communications director Jennifer Donnals, and here is the Q&A:
Q: What are you doing about Dorothy Cooper?
Donnals: We have attempted to call her today and we’ve not been able to reach her yet. We want to make sure she understands what she needs to bring back to the driver service center, and we will work with her to get her a photo ID.
Q: So that’s the best you can do?
Donnals: What else can we do? I mean, we’re trying to reach her. We’ve made a call to her and left a message. It actually took a little while to get her number. We didn’t have her contact information. … We want to work with her to get her photo ID.
Q: What documents does she need?
Donnals: She needs to bring back a document that shows what her last name is. We’re going to work with her to get that and get her a photo ID.
Q: Does she need a marriage certificate?
Donnals: We need to talk with her about what she has. We’re going to be able to work with her to prove her citizenship. Once we talk to her, she should know what to bring.
Q: Do you concede that this clerk who initially dealt with Mrs. Cooper made a mistake?
Donnals: That situation could have been handled differently, yes.
Q: What does that mean?
Donnals: Well, the clerk was following policy for issuing photo IDs, but we think the clerk could have taken some extra steps to help this woman in this situation. But that is the policy. If someone comes in with the birth certificate that does not have their correct last name, then there needs to be some supporting document to prove that’s her last name.
Q: She had an envelope full of documents.
Donnals: But those weren’t acceptable documents under our policy.
Q: OK, what document does she need?
Donnals: We want to talk with her about what she has. Every situation is different.
Q: Short of not following your policy and giving her a photo ID, what should the clerk have done? When you say work with Mrs. Cooper, what does that mean?
Donnals: Mrs. Cooper was turned away and we should have worked with her more to figure out what documents she has available. We didn’t do that. So we’re trying to do that now. She did not have a document in her envelope that would work. But she may have had other documents at home, and we’re trying to figure that out with Mrs. Cooper.
Q: But regardless, she would have been sent home without a photo ID, right?
Donnals: Maybe or maybe not. We may have been able to make some phone calls from the center to verify what her married name is. She is saying it’s Cooper, but her birth certificate does not list Cooper as her married name.
Q: But you’re still going to make this poor lady trudge back down to this place and wait?
Donnals: If she comes back to the center, we will try to make arrangements for her to come in and get her ID right away.
Q: She won’t have to wait? Are you sure about that?
Donnals: Our assistant commissioner for driver services is personally working on it.
Comments (16)
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Oh well, whew! If the assistant commissioner for driver services is all over it, then she might get a photo ID when she's 194. What about her uncle's war service records? Does she have those? If he didn't serve, does she still get to vote?
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Did they really say "her birth certificate does not list Cooper as her married name"?! Would they accept a birth certificate that had a spot for "baby's married name" on it?
And what the fuck is with this nonsense about "We need to talk with her about what she has"? Are they really going to make every single person who needs a photo id just guess what things might or might not be acceptable?
I was on the fence about this. I couldn't see why it would be a problem for people to have a photo id. But now I get that it is about making it annoying and difficult and confusing in order to discourage people.
"Q: OK, what document does she need?
Donnals: We want to talk with her about what she has. Every situation is different."
I call bullsh*t. There are either identifiable required documents, or there are not.
So it's not enough to prove you're a US citizen (via birth certificate) to vote, you must also pay the poll tax and pass the "literacy test"?
Plus ca change.
Next day off, I'm going to the Driver Testing Center and then the Election Commission office to request my $19.50 back, which I paid to renew my license. After all, this $19.50 is a poll tax that I can not be expected to pay in order to vote. I'm sure they will laugh me out of their offices, but not before I obtain their names, which will be certain to be included in my filing for the class action lawsuit.
What was it they used to ask in one of our lofty southeastern states, "How many bubbles in a cake of soap?" Let's jack with people. That'll teach them to elect Obamas to the White House!
If anyone wonders what the big fuss is about in requiring ID to vote: This is it. Who are the people making these changes, from this woman's story to having to have a BIRTH CERTIFICATE to register? Republicans. What demographic tends to vote Democratic? Take a guess....
Let's see if you're guess is right: Older people who depend on SS and Medicare,
young college kids, Hispanics, and (ahem) "poor people". Sorry, I said a dirty word. No offense to the Job Creators (that used to be called the rich, before Republicans renamed them). They poured millions into electing officials in the state legislature while our backs were turned, and their strategy is to make it more difficult for these people to vote:
And their strategy is absolutely going to work. Some states elected Democrats by a tiny margin last election. Guess what's going to happen next election?
Deterring Democracy by keeping people from voting is the (New) Republican Way. No matter what you think of Obama, or "liberals", is this what you want? Because if you vote Republican, this is what you're gonna get. Less rights, less voice, less pay, less regulations protecting you...... less.
The only reason everyone is getting so worked up about all this is the fact that she is old and black. If a young white woman came to get her ID card with a birth certificate that didn't match her name and no usable supporting documents no one would bother looking twice. But an old black woman that smells like civil rights violation...
Yea, there you go James playing the race card. I didn't even know she was black until you brought it up. I've been situational on this one because I've always had to show my I.D. when I vote. No big deal because I have a driver's license. But I also have a voters registration card and I'm thinking Dorothy does too since she's voted in every election her entire adult life except for 1 time I believe. Doesn't that prove her identity enough? The birth certificate does not prove what her married name is, which I think was the point when they said they couldn't use it because it doesn't show her married name. Why isn't someone like a family member or neighbor helping her get the proper documentation she needs? If the state is going to require the people who don't drive get an I.D. to vote, then they should at least accept a social security card for getting the I.D., since you have to prove your identity to get one.
We all need a national ID. When I tried to get my social security, my local office would not accept my birth certificate, honorable discharge from the army, and numerous other documents. They wanted my high school diploma, which I could not find. Then I was told by the high school that they had burned in a fire. I eventually found it, but was sent to an office in another city because my local office was too busy. This can happen at the Federal level to a white too. I am white and part Hispanic. This is just bureaucracy at work. We all need to deal with it. I was pretty pissed off at the time though!
I just applied for Social Security as my last birthday turned out to be #66. I applied over 2 months ago and have not been "approved" yet. It seems my original SS card that I obtained before I was age 16 has a different middle initial. When I married I kept my maiden name as my middle name and dropped my birth middle name. The SS office told me that I now need to go to court and have my middle name legally changed to my maiden name before they can process my request for fifty (50) years of earned income social security insurance payments. This is WITH my birth certificate and a marriage certificate and a driver's license and a passport. Good luck voters!
I just applied for Social Security as my last birthday turned out to be #66. I applied over 2 months ago and have not been "approved" yet. It seems my original SS card that I obtained before I was age 16 has a different middle initial. When I married I kept my maiden name as my middle name and dropped my birth middle name. The SS office told me that I now need to go to court and have my middle name legally changed to my maiden name before they can process my request for fifty (50) years of earned income social security insurance payments. This is WITH my birth certificate and a marriage certificate and a driver's license and a passport. Good luck voters!
All this because democrats have to be prevented from committing election fraud. Poor Dorothy.
@MaskedMarvyl: The vast majority of seniors who contribute to political candidates contribute to republicans. Reason? Republicans are less likely to cause inflation or conditions that would lower the value of retirement accounts.
While I am sorry to hear about this woman's being dragged through all this bureaucratic
nonsense and feel some concession should be made for her age, the thought pops up
Why did she wait till 96 to register to vote? Has she NOT voted for all these years? If
not, why has she chosen to register at this time?
renaissanceman, Dorothy Cooper has voted in nearly every election since the 1930s. She recently learned that a new Republican-sponsored Tennessee law would prevent anyone from voting in the state without presenting a photo ID, which she did not have (like many seniors, she didn't need one, because she does not drive). So she went to get one so she could keep voting, bringing along a whole bunch of documents, and was told she would not be given one. Her story is actually linked in red in the first paragraph. Why not go read that story so you'll know more about her situation?
What really gets me is that Ms. Cooper states that she never experienced any difficulties in voting, from the 1930s until now 2011--even during the height of the Jim Crow era before Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Movement.
Oh, good Lord! You are kidding me! A woman shows up with documents with two different last names actually has to show an official document that links the two names together? What is this world coming to? Shouldn't people be able to show up on the day of the election and vote based solely on their word they are who they say they are? What kind of fraud could come of that? None in my book.
