Virginia Voter ID: What If You Can't Drive?

Gregory W. asked an excellent follow-up question to my comment here:

http://news.yahoo.com/voter-id-laws-accomplish-cost-222300847.html?_esi=1&bcmt=1343839050331-dbbfa86f-feec-4e7b-b204-174d25983672&bcmt_s=e#ugccmt-container-b

Virginia's voter identification law was discussed here in March, but we didn't discuss what disabled Virginians are expected to do...because that hasn't changed.

If you simply don't drive, you can (and should) get a state ID card that looks like a driver's license but affirms that you're not a licensed driver. Employers demand this for many jobs; you might as well have one for general use. You still use the DMV facility to have your picture processed into an official state ID card. There is a $10 fee.

Here's the official web site for state ID cards:

http://www.dmv.state.va.us/webdoc/citizen/id/get_id.asp

If a physical disability makes it difficult for you to visit the DMV or registrar's office, you need to contact the local registrar about voting by mail. Once the need to do this is confirmed, state employees will do everything possible to make it easy. A disability pension check can be used as official identification. A relative, nurse, or other employee can help you vote at home.

Virginia does not process applications for voter registration online, but does accept requests for a printed application form to be mailed to you: http://www.dmv.org/va-virginia/voter-registration.php

However,the federal government has made it possible for any U.S. citizen to submit a request for a fee-free, photo-free voter ID card online, although registrars will still need to verify your information before mailing a card to you. One web site that's been set up to facilitate this process is https://www.gottaregister.com/?source=aw_followup.

There's also a web site specifically for U.S. citizens who need to register, or may need to vote, while in a different country: https://www.votefromabroad.org/

If you have reason to believe that a temporary disability, someone else's disability, or even your work or school schedule, may make it hard for you to report to the polls, you also may contact the registrar about voting by mail. Call or write to explain the situation.

If you're living with someone on the other side of a state line--whether it's your spouse, a relative, a disabled patient, a boarding house near your school, whatever--you can still participate in that person's election while voting in your own. All the law asks is that you vote only once. You can still help young people register, help disabled people vote, and host election parties in another state, city, county, or precinct, if you so choose. While living together in Prince Georges County, Maryland, my husband voted (and served as election judge) in Howard County, Maryland, and I voted (by mail) in Scott County, Virginia. Our new law, if it survives the federal challenge, won't interfere with this kind of thing. One vote per living body, but there's no legal limit on the number of additional living bodies you may be able to deliver to the election.

It's still possible, at the time of writing, to use a bank statement or utility bill, or Social Security card or school ID card, to obtain a photo-free voter ID card. A state ID card is more useful for more purposes, but if you can't scrape up $10 you can still confirm your legitimacy as a voter without a state ID card. All the law asks is that you do this in advance of the election, and don't try to use different documents to vote in different places.

Privacy fanatic though I am, I can't see this law as it stands as discriminatory to any person or group...although I can easily imagine the technology being set up to violate the secrecy of the polls, a few years down the road.

If anybody out there was really counting on being able to vote twice, I suggest planning a new strategy. You have to play by the rules to win...so start educating and rallying apathetic voters now.