I think the tweet is an indication of how difficult the state of TX makes it to get a driverās license in order to be able to vote. I can confirm with my own anecdote; a friend wanted to get her DL for the first time and it took multiple appointments spread out over several months in order to finally succeed. In her case the sticking point was that they said she needed her birth certificate in addition to her social security card & other documents, and it takes the state 25 business days + mailing time in order to send a replacement birth certificate.
And it has to be a certified copies of such, so you usually have to mail away and get the registrar office to copy and notarize for you. Iām not against more rigorous verifying for getting a āReal IDā, that forces people to actually formalize and document things like name changes vs just casual use. But it must must must be enforced without inequity, and its clear that there isnāt strong motivation to assure that in most statesā licensing agencies, and much the opposite when it becomes a political gatekeeping tool and purity test.
Timex
11453
Isnāt the birth certificate requirement related to the āreal idā requirements from the federal government?
Derpā¦ Just saw silhouetteās post.
If youāve got a valid passport, Iām not sure why youād need a birth certificate as well.
Tortilla
11455
Because bureaucracy isnāt about what makes sense, itās about following the rules exactly. No matter how dumb the rules may be.
Timex
11456
I agree though, a passport should be able to identify your citizenship, and thus should be equall to having the birth certificate.
Iām think I used a passport, not a birth certificate, to get my Real ID Florida license in 2017. But I canāt recall clearly, it was a lifetime ago lol.
RichVR
11458
Which reminds me, time to renew my passport. Not that Iāll ever use it again, but Iād feel safer.
CraigM
11459
I for sure used my passport and not my birth certificate when I got my Real ID in Oregon in August 2020
Papageno
11460
Youād think even an expired passport would work for that purpose. After all, once a citizen always one, right? Last time I renewed my license of course, it was still valid (I want to say it was in 2017 but I donāt think Oregon was doing RealID yet). So now Iāve got to do the renewal thing and send it in and all that, which always makes me nervous because I was born outside of the country.
arrendek
11461
Do passports include your address? Because if not then it wouldnāt work for getting a driverās license and it wouldnāt work for registering to vote because they need your address to put you in a district.
The passportās not needed to show residency, only to confirm ID - just like a birth certificate doesnāt show your address, either.
EDIT: Current address.
LockerK
11463
Indeed. The passport is confirming who you are and the TX auto insurance should have been accepted to confirm her address. I can see the problem with bills being in her husbandās name because thereās no way to confirm relation (hence the need for the marriage license).
The bigger issue is how difficult itās made to confirm identity.
RichVR
11465
Keep it coming. Then bury the bastard.
Can you vote with a state ID?
Tortilla
11467
Yes, but thatās just a drivers license without driving privileges. Same artificial barriers to prevent unsuitable people from being able to get one. Itās a somewhat effective tactic to disenfranchise the poor.
