It used to be a given, a basic right of citizenship. These days when you ask that question: Am I Ready to Vote? the answer may be:
It Depends.
Why New Photo ID Laws Mean Some Won't Vote
by Corey Dade, NPR.org -- Jan 28, 2012
You may be Registered to Vote -- you think -- BUT still unprepared -- legally speaking.
Because your State Laws may have changed. Here's the Gotcha, lying in wait:
When you SHOW UP show up to vote, you find out that you don't have the "right ID". Sorry!
Generally speaking, you will need a valid [ie non-expired] government-issued ID, with your FULL NAME, and usually a Photo of yourself on the ID, to boot.
Don't drive anymore -- Sorry!
God help you, if you got married and changed your name -- Does your Birth Certificate name match your Marriage Certificate name, match your Photo ID Name?
NO!? Honk -- No Voting for you! Sorry!
You could be one of few dozen people charged with "Voter Fraud," in the last decade. Not simply someone caught in a web of imperfect paperwork, in an imperfect government bureaucracy. That could never happen, could it?
It depends on what state you live in -- whether you end up being less well-prepared than others.
Voter-ID Laws have changed. What used to be simple, is now more complicated.
Get prepared. Be Ready. Help your friends and family be ready too.
Here is a site, designed to help you GET PREPARED:
Check to see if you are registered. It's easy.
When people move and records get "updated" sometimes you find out too late, that you thought you we registered to Vote, but turns out YOUR registration record got purged somehow, by some clerk somewhere.
Don't be denied YOUR basic American Rights -- IF your state will STILL let you ... Find out if you will have the "right ID" when you show up to vote.
Then find out if the seniors in your life (and students) will be ready to Vote too. How about those Metro-bound folks you know?
It's far better to be Safe -- than Sorry!