The Original Rock the Vote
Despite the best efforts of Senator Joe Haynes, Senator Lowe Finney, and Senator Thelma Harper, a bill requiring photo IDs to vote (SB0150) was passed out of the Tennessee Senate State and Local Government Committee. The final vote was 6-3 along party lines.
I couldn’t have covered the committee meeting any better than Woods at the Scene. Tom Humphrey of the Knox News Sentinel and Cara Kumari of WSMV have more. And as always, there’s big discussion going on over at a Kleinheider Joint.
In light of the party line vote, and recent on air discussions we’ve had about empathy, I have a few questions for those out there sitting in their ivory towers:
- Have you ever had to take time off work and been told “no” repeatedly by your boss?
- Have you ever not been able to take time off from one of your jobs because you’re paid hourly and you desperately need every dollar you make from every hour you work to be able to take care of your family?
- Do you get a scheduled lunch that lasts 30 minutes?
- Are you in a wheelchair for any reason? Confined to your home or your bed, perhaps?
- How’s your moms? Is she ambulatory? Does she have a driver’s license? A photo ID? Can she locate her birth record?
- Do you know any nuns? What about any elderly nuns who have taken a vow of poverty?
- Have you ever needed to use public transportation because you didn’t own a car? Have you ever noticed that it sometimes takes almost twice as long to get from point A to point B if you ride the bus? (refer to questions 1, 2 & 3)
If you want participatory democracy to be equitable and still require Photo IDs to vote, then make them free and easily accessible for everyone. Perhaps we can put a voter registration and picture booth in every grocery and convenient store in town and staff them 24/7 (for you know, people who work the third shift – oh, by the way, have you ever had to work the third shift?).
Huh. Voter registration booths in every grocery and convenient store. Now that’s a fiscal note I’d like to see attached to ol’ SB0150.
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