Voter Id Question on WI ballot

[Figarosmom]

Doesn't look good. Evidentually framing it as JUST a voter ID question and not mentioning that women would have to have the same name as on their birth certificate or other ID like a certified marriage license and divorce decree and maybe even another marriage license.. works. I hope early results are wrong, but I guess it's time to get a real ID and passport. Get all ID I can since they keep moving the goal posts of what's needed to vote.


I think this is the second time it was on the ballot and it did pass last time. Three times pass and it becomes law.

[radical noodle]

1. It's true that a married woman who has taken her husband's name

needs to have a marriage license to show her name change. I was also divorced and remarried, so they asked for my divorce papers as well. Sometimes they let that go if you don't have access to the divorce decree. It might be easier for women to stop taking their husband's name.

[Ms. Toad]

2. To get a Real ID,

You not only have to show a marriage license - you have to have certified documents to show every single name change since birth.

So if you marry, take your husband's name, divorce, take your maiden name back, marry take your husband's name, divorce and keep your husband's name, then marry a third time, you have to show 5 certified documents.

This isn't just the on-election-day if your name doesn't match your most recent registration you have to show your license.

And, no, for purposes of Real ID, or voting based on Real ID principles, they don't just let it go. You have to go back to the court in which you were divorced and get a certified copy of the divorce.

While you are correct as to what might be easier, that doesn't help all of the women who are past being able to make that decision - also one of the groups most likely to be barred from voting.

And - unless the state has a real ID law, or a voting mimic of of it, generally all you have to do is submit a change of name - unless it is election day and your registration name doesn't match your current name.

[radical noodle]

7. You probably have more up-to-date information than I do

When I moved to Florida, we had to get car licenses, registrations, and driver's licenses. It's my understanding that the driver's license is a real ID and I'm certainly allowed to vote with it here (and you know what jerks they are in Florida). But I did not have a copy of my divorce in any form, not certified or otherwise, and they let it go after great debate and a few phone calls. But this was several years ago, so I imagine that's changed now.

We also had to have things with our names and addresses on them to prove where we lived.

I wasn't being unsympathetic to women who are already in this situation, as I'm in that situation myself. I was speaking about young women contemplating marriage for the first time, and thinking about their options. Sorry if that wasn't clear.

[Ms. Toad]

11. Florida doesn't require a real ID.

It actually has (under current standards) very broad identification requirements.

Florida driver’s license
Florida state ID card
US passport or passport card
Military identification
Student ID
Public assistance ID
Veterans Health ID card issued by US Department of Veterans Affairs
Retirement center ID
Neighborhood association ID
Debit or credit card
Florida concealed weapon license
Employee ID issued by US, Florida, or local government

If your driver's license is a real ID, it should have a white star in a gold circle in the upper right corner. If your name changed when you divorced, you should not have been issued a real ID without a copy of it (or some other documentation of the name change). If it didn't change - OR - if it changed from your maiden name to your married name and back to your maiden name you can sometimes sneak by by omitting the name change. I was briefly married and changed my name, but since I went right back to my maiden name and never changed it again (and all of my formal records were in my maiden name) I didn't produce either marriage or divorce documentation when I got my Real ID. Once you disclose a name change (e.g. by showing a marriage license), they aren't supposed to let you by without requiring proof of a change back.

Voter ID requirements that require voters who have been voting their entire life to have a Real ID is a hot-button issue for me, since not too long ago I was fighting not only the world in general - but also way too many DU members who do not understand how discriminatory it was. When Republicans first started introducing such measures, way too many people here insisted it was no big deal - despite it falling most heavily on people who are poor (and don't have access to the documents for financial reasons), people who are elderly (home births weren't recorded, records lost over time, people who could vouch for their birth no longer alive - because they were obviously old enough to remember the births), women (whose name change so they can't easily trace from birth to present), and minorities (many older blacks were born at home because hospitals were not accessible to them - so their births weren't necessarily recorded; alternative documents like baptismal records were sometimes destroyed in church burnings, etc.)

[radical noodle]

13. My license does have a gold circle

with a white star inside, on the upper right corner. My name did change when I got married the first time, then after I divorced and remarried, it changed again. I never went back to my maiden name. Why they allowed it, I have no idea, but they did. Someone in the license branch must have just taken pity on me.

I know it's difficult for many people to get all the documentation. It's expensive and time consuming, if it's even available at all. Just getting the certified copies can be a hardship if they do exist. The whole thing is just a way to disenfranchise certain voters, and it is not at all fair. Many people who vote for voter ID don't know or don't think about those things, but many will find out the hard way about how odious it is. I'm with you in the fight against it.

Thanks for all the information, and now I'll wonder forever how I got my real ID without my divorce info.

[Ms. Toad]

14. You probably got by with it because the divorce didn't change your name.

What has to be documented is each name change. So in your case, it would have been birth, first marriage, second marriage. Your second marriage license would have shown you changing from first married name to second married name, so that completed the chain.

[Figarosmom]

3. Yeah and not

The hyphenated name either.

As far as I'm concerned not getting married period is better. Being responsible for someone else's bad judgement ir even financial problems isn't the best selling point of marriage snd now they add this kind of burden to overcome us just a lot of bs.

[IbogaProject]

6. Unfortunately marrage provides a myriad of legal and financial benefits

Best move nowadays is keep your origional name, or get birth certificate legally changed. Not sure the second one is still an option but my dad has his changed when he was in the military.

[SSJVegeta]

4. Still, its looking very good so far for the Dems

[Figarosmom]

5. Yes

But that also means we are not doing a good job of explaining the voter ID question.

We'll have one more chance to stop it and we better do a better job of getting women at least to understand why they may be disenfranchised if they don't have more than just a drivers license.

I'm thinking people think it's a redundant question since we have the regular picture ID law and they shrug and fill in yes.

[Jack Valentino]

8. They may be hurting themselves more with this, than our side, as I recall past polling results...

(if it were actually to be passed into law)---

Past polling results have most often shown married women more often voting for Republicans---
while unmarried women have voted overwhelmingly for the Democrats.

This restrictive policy would affect their own voters far more than ours.

[Figarosmom]

9. You are right

[Jack Valentino]

10. The far-right isn't best known for "foresight" or "thinking things through"! LOL

[Figarosmom]

12. Yeah

In Texas where they did push this through some of their own politicians couldn't even vote. The married women of course. They didn't think it through