Is there some significance to having your “original” Birth Cert or SS Card?
I know that when I got my passport, I actually had to specifically request a new Birth Cert because my original one did not list my parents’ info, which is required for a passport now. I had to request a new certificate, and then use that to apply for the passport.
See, at 51 I don’t have my original of either.
I think the significance is making harder for certain people to vote.
But you don’t specifically need your “original” of anything to do anything, do you?
It is very easy to get a copy of your birth certificate. But there are two types, one that is readily available and accepted by most entities and one that is much harder (fees and more proof I guess) to get. Applying for a federal job only requires the easy one.
You don’t need an original of any of this paperwork. You can get a replacement for all of them. The only reason the idea of the original came up is this idea that all these very old documents lack the protections of the recent ones. As if we have a huge line of 90 year olds with their original birth certificates and SSN just lining up to commit voter fraud.
A lot of these documents would have been replaced over the years for a variety of reasons. And those who laminated old ones should be required to get new ones… and they are. Whether or not an employee knows they are not supposed to accept these originals in altered conditions is another matter.
Unfortunately, I made the mistake of laminating mine for an Ed. class I took in pursuit of a teaching certificate, so I don’t even know if mine is valid anymore.
The word “original” in the context of a birth certificate or SS card means an official state issued document on the special paper with official watermarks and not a photo or other copy. You can get an “original” document from the state where you were born or a main social security office, which, while it’s technically a copy, is an official copy and thus original.
Those are not called originals. They’re certified copies. I think we’re using original in the typical context in this conversations. If you have a 90 year old with their original social security card, it will look different than what is being issued today. It’s still valid though. Training people to recognize fake IDs can be challenging because of the different versions available, just look at driver’s licenses even, but it’s pretty rare to have a 90 year old with an original social security walk into an HR office… for a number of reasons.
I personally have seen a very aged gentleman try and use his original SSN card. We were able to validate his number, give him the job but he had a limited number of time to produce a valid document by ordering a replacement. This was just a short-term seasonal gig for me so I am no HR expert by any means, but it was interesting being trained to spot fakes by ICE.
Wisconsin Voter ID Law has education campaign attached which has not been funded.
On April 5, when voters cast ballots in Wisconsin’s Republican and Democratic primaries, the state’s controversial voter ID bill will face its biggest test since Governor Scott Walker signed it into law in 2011. For the first time in a major election, citizens will be required to show approved forms of identification in order to vote. The law mandates that the state run a public-service campaign “in conjunction with the first regularly scheduled primary and election” to educate voters on what forms of ID are acceptable.
But Wisconsin has failed to appropriate funds for the public education campaign. The result is that thousands of citizens may be turned away from the polls simply because they did not understand what form of identification they needed to vote.
Wisconsin’s failure to fund these public-service ads comes after a clash between the Government Accountability Board, the nonpartisan agency responsible for producing voter education materials, and the Republican-controlled legislature. In October, the agency met with Republican State Senator Mary Lazich, who was a primary sponsor of the voter ID bill in 2011, to inquire after funding and received a tepid response.
Nice. Just… nice.
This is super dumb as well, because if they don’t end up following through with the funding, legal cases against the voter ID law are just going to be stronger. If the government fails to hold up one end of the law, how can anyone be expected to follow the other part.
Speaking as someone who comes from a country where it’s mandatory to vote, and we don’t need ID, this is amusing.
Did I say amusing? I meant depressing.
Mandatory? How is someone forced to vote? Like what happens if you don’t?
You get fined. Mind you technically over here it is not mandatory to vote, only to attend a polling location and have your name marked off.
Is it like a holiday? I knew some people who don’t vote because they can’t get the time off. I mean you’d be amazed how difficult it is to take time off for some groups. I live in a state that has mail in ballots, but it seems like every year one party, you could probably guess which, tries to challenge it and claim all sorts of fraud that’s never been proven.
Nah not a public holiday, but no business is going to deny you the time you need to vote, even though it is a personal responsibility to figure out your schedule and get it in. It has never taken me more than 20 minutes, excluding travel and there are plenty of polling locations, so it is far from onerous. Though YMMV in more rural areas. But we have absentee and mail systems on place to accommodate a range of people and their circumstances.
Interesting, thanks for sharing. I believe Florida has 3 hour lines at one point,and my guess is someone probably lost their job staying in that line. Some employers here just have no leniency for anything, not even a family crisis (not my recent experiences fortunately).
In states with early voting, unless you are working 60-80 hour weeks, there is a chance to vote at least. Usually shorter lines as well.
That said, Republicans have gone after early voting as well- which is another issue I have.
Also, even if voting day was a holiday, the folks most stressed to find time to vote are still going to be forced to work.
I believe Belgium also has forced voting.
Face it. In America taking the actual time to vote is not a rich or poor thing, it is a do it or don’t do it thing. When only a small minority of a region turn out to vote it isn’t because they couldn’t get away from work, or because they were out of town or too busy, it’s because they just plain didn’t care. They couldn’t be bothered to register, they couldn’t be bothered to get a mail in ballot, they couldn’t be bothered to visit their polling site and they couldn’t be bothered to research the issues. It’s apathy, not socio-economic condition that limits American voting.
A nice dose of lack of empathy for others is probably the most pressing obstacle for some voters.
Cite please, because everything else I’ve read strongly indicates a correlation between income and likelihood to vote.