Austin Gilmore, Cary, NC:

Guybo & Jenks, Raleigh, NC:

NC Elders Speak Out
A montage of older citizens give
their opinions on the proposed bill.

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Curtis Harper, Chapel Hill, NC
"I just think this is just another method
of preventing people from voting."

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Deborah Faulk & Marie Cooke,
Whiteville, NC
"...this is going to have a big impact."

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Linda Pope, Hampstead, NC
"That's what it would to be
to me -- a burden."

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Mary Ljungberg, Asheville, NC
"I have never needed [a photo ID to vote]. Why would I need it now?"

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Joan Patrick, Cary, NC
"I think it's a very unfair thing...
it's a ridiculous proposition"

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Billy Watson, Whiteville, NC
"Right now, it wouldn't impact me --
but it could."

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Alma Pellom, Leland, NC
"They shouldn't make it harder for
the old poor people like me."

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Cameron Hunter, Hickory, NC
".... basically, I'd have to drive
halfway across the state to vote."

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Mildred Leach, Raleigh, NC
"If I don't vote, it may be crucial. They may
need just my one vote for that person to win."

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Nancy & William Howard, Oxford, NC
"There's a lot of things that need more
attention than... picture IDs to vote."

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"My name is Curtis Harper. I am 73 years old. I live at Chapel Hill, NC. Well, I was denied voting for many years just because I'm black, but I suppose I've been voting for probably 50 years now.  I do have [a driver's license] but it's an old drivers license and expired, I don't know whether that would count as a Photo ID or not.

I just think it's another method of preventing people from voting. As far as I'm concerned, it's the same thing they tried in the 1950's and 60's when they tried to disenfranchise black people from voting.

I can imagine some Mexican-Americans will be disenfranchised by this as well.

Well, they're going to claim that if you don't have a driver's license that you will be able to go down and get an identification license similar to a driver's license, that's what they're going to claim, I'm sure. A lot of people have to get excused from work just to go out and vote. So therefore have to get excused to go out and get a photo identification card is going to be another obstacle."

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My name is J. Riggs. I am 55 years old and live in Charlotte, NC. I have been a registered voter since I was 18 and I have voted in almost every election. I think that voting is one of the most important rights we have as well as a privilege and a responsibility.

Being able to vote allows each and every one of us to express our political opinions by voting for a policy or a candidate that has our best interests in mind.

My husband is also an active voter. He also has Multiple Sclerosis. For now, he has an NC Driver License, but I feel certain that at some point he will no longer be able to drive and Multiple Sclerosis will take away his ability to walk. If this law is passed, he may not be able to get to the NCDMV to obtain an ID.

When my son was campaigning for President Obama during the 2008 election, he spoke with a woman who was bedridden and unable to get out to vote, so her husband had to obtain an absentee ballot for her.

How will this law help those who
are disabled and not able to get out to get an ID, let alone vote, if this law is passed?

Facing South and the Institute for Southern Studies released an analysis showing that a voter ID bill proposed by North Carolina Republicans could cost the state $20 million or more over the next three years, exacerbating the state's $3.7 billion budget gap. Voter ID laws add dozens of new costs for state and local officials, from updating forms and websites to hiring and training staff to inspect IDs and handle provisional ballots on Election Day. In 2009, Maryland estimated it could cost over $95,000 each election just for precinct judges in just one county. With agencies strapped for cash, the N.C. legislature would likely need to appropriate millions of dollars each year to help cover these new administrative expenses.

What concerns me is that as low as voter turnout already is, this not only seems much too costly and discriminating, it seem that it would be a deterrent to keep others from voting.

I would rather see our representatives look for ways to cut costs and help increase the number of voters, rather than the opposite, which is what this bill would do were it to be passed."

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"I do not have my license updated because I have not recovered from my knee surgery and cannot drive.

I do not need an ID when I go to vote because I am at a precinct that I have lived in all my life and everyone knows who I am when I go to vote. With most senior citizens as myself this is common, when we vote the people at the precinct know who we are. We greet neighbors and friends that we have known for decades.

A mandatory ID Voter Bill would be a big waste of taxpayers time and money and may turn away known voters from the polls who do not have an ID."

M. I. Jackson
New Hanover County

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"I think it's very important to make your choice for who you want to run for whatever. If I don't vote, it may be crucial because it may be they need just that one vote for my person to win. Well, it would make it harder for me [to vote] if I had to go get [an ID]. When I stopped driving, they gave me an ID, and it's time for me to get another one, because mine is outdated.

I think it's stupid. I think everybody should be able to vote if they desire to do so, and if they don't, that's their privilege and that's their problem."

Mildred Leach, age 73
Raleigh, NC

 

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"As an American citizen of Hispanic heritage, I oppose the proposed legislation requiring photo ID's for voters.

Not only do I find this offensive and unnecessary, I believe it will make voting more difficult for older or disabled citizens, like my 92 year old mother-in-law, as well as others who do not have a driver's license or other current photo ID.

It harkens to the days of the barriers created to disenfranchise black Americans and I do not think North Carolina wants to be identified as a backward state."

Nelda Leon, Charlotte, NC

 

"My husband may not get to vote!”

Mrs. Hattie Byrum of Edenton, NC has a husband is 83 yrs of and who had a stroke five years ago, leaving him partially paralyzed on his left side. When his driver’s license was reaching expiration this past year, he decided not to renew since he felt that his capacity to drive was insufficient to do so. As a result, Mr. Byrum no longer has a current photo ID in his possession. However, he has full mental capacity, enjoys watching the news and reads the newspapers daily.

Mrs. Byrum and the children, who are adults, do all the driving necessary for his needs. However, his family is not sure how they would show proof for his required photo id, and how to go about getting one. Mrs. Byrum expressed both her husband's and her own concerns that they may lose their opportunity to vote if a Photo ID Law was passed. They are both also upset about the cost.

“We have been voting all these years," she says. "We don’t want to lose our vote and don’t want to see anyone else lose their vote, either.”

"My name is Edwin Warehime. I'm 78 years old, and I live in Granville County, North Carolina. I do not have a driver's license, and wouldn't be able to vote if this law passed.

I have been voting as long as I can remember. I can't remember what age I was eligible to start voting, but I started voting when I was eligible. It's a basic right of our society. We have many, many people who have fought and died to give me that privilege.

If people fought and died to give it to me I don't think it's anyone's right to take it away from me.

It's almost like the old poll tax. It was a way to get certain people out of the mix. And they ruled the poll tax unconstitutional, so this is just another gimmick to try to get certain people so they can't vote. Everyone who doesn't have a driver's license will be affected by it. It's cutting out the senior population from having the privilege of voting."

"The proposed Voter Photo ID Bill would be a significant obstacle for college students and young adults who want to vote. Since I left my parents’ house for college in 2004, I have lived in two dorm rooms and six different apartment complexes. My driver’s license, which is finally set to expire in a few months, still has my parents’ address on it, because that was the only place I could consider a permanent address. How would I have voted in the recent elections if the proposed bill had been in effect?

Is this what we want to do to our already embarrassing voter turnout? I don’t think so!"

Patrick Turner

"My name is Wilma Smith and I am from Durham, NC. My driver's license is expired because I gave up driving when I turned 75. I get around by bus now and I don't want to renew my driver's license.

It would be a hardship to have to go to the DMV because my husband is 96 years old and I cannot always leave him alone at home.

He has some good days and some bad days, and I cannot really make plans very easily to be away from him."

"I am Charles H. Spicer, I am 86 years old and a resident of Wilmington, NC. I believe the Voter ID Bill is not needed. This bill would cost the taxpayers 20 million dollars.

This is a waste of money when funds are needed for the education of our children, where teachers and programs are being cut.

This bill is unnecessary and unjust and carries the same spirit of  apartheid that was previous practiced in South Africa, where persons rights were violated when they did not carry an ID."

"My husband's name is William Howard. We just got home last Thursday. He was away from for five months. He had the stroke September the 22nd, and we went from hospital to rehab, and he came a long way, but during that time his license expired on his birthday and I don't foresee him ever getting a license anymore.

We just think [voting is] our responsibility, something we need to do as citizens. I really don't see it as being fair.

I think as long as a person is registered I don't see why they can't vote. It just seems like  something they're trying to make harder for people to do.

There's quite a lot of things that need more attention than trying to make people have picture ID's to vote."

Nancy Howard, age 65
Oxford, NC

"My name is Gerleen Royal, I live in Oxford, NC. I think it's an attempt to prevent people from voting. I think it's aimed at poor people. I think it's a way to disenfranchise people.

I'm 75, and I lived through segregation, Jim Crow, and poll tax, and I don't ever want to go back to that way of living again.

If I take freedom from my neighbor who's black then I lose my freedom, too! I don't want to be in a divided nation."

“Mom has never owned a photo ID!”

Mrs. Agnes Newby of Edenton, NC has a mother who is 101 years of age and voted in the Presidential elections of 2008 shortly before into skilled nursing facility. Her mother has full mental capacity to make decisions and choices and continues to read newspapers and always watches the news. She has never had a driver’s license, passport or other form of photo ID in her entire life. She has a social security card and birth certificate, neither of which has a picture, yet she is recognized when she goes to vote and does so.

Agnes herself is a senior citizen who regularly works at the local polls during voting. She notes that quite a few voters are in a similar situation as her mother, without ready access to photo IDs. Fortunately, in the area that they live, all the neighbors and community know one another well enough to be able to recognize each other at the polls.

She is also concerned about the additional cost, estimated at nearly 20 million dollars and simply says, “It is crazy.”

I am 77 years old and now live in a Continuing Care Retirement Community. Our voting record here is very high and our residents really do care about our state and country. I am still driving but many of our residents, due to physical disability, can no longer drive.

I think it would be very discriminatory to require an ID for people who are quite old and have no means of getting one, and if they do, might have trouble keeping up with an ID.

If the party in power is trying to have less government, how does this proposed regulation contribute to that? Isn’t this just another regulation that is not needed?

Martha Carmichael

"My name is Cora Wilen. I'm a student at UNC-Chapel Hill, from Athens, Ohio. I am registered to vote currently in Orange County, but I have an Ohio driver's license. Under this new law I wouldn't be able to vote in North Carolina unless I voted absentee, which for a student is pretty complicated. Voting this year was really easy for me, it was right on campus. But for me and a lot of out of other out of state students it would really complicate the process. It would definitely reduce the turnout.

In terms of fiscal pragmatism this is just going to cost a lot of money when that money can be going to so much better causes.

As someone who was so active in registering voters on campus and getting out the vote this year it hurts a lot that I can't vote here just because I'm a student from out of state. I'm paying so much to go to school here. I think that I deserve to vote here and have a say in what goes on in this area. And I think it disenfranchises so many other groups that are really invested in politics locally, and we all deserve to have a say in what goes on around here."

"I have a sister who worked as a home healthcare aide for 20+ years, even as her own health was failing. She was forced to stop working after having a diabetic blackout. It took her several months to make the many adjustments to her life --- loss of freedom because she couldn’t drive, loss of income and medical coverage because she couldn’t work, etc. She had to learn to live on even less than the $20,000/year she had been making. She is neither computer, nor cell phone literate. Now, she is on Medicaid, getting food stamps and she started taking Social Security payments at age 63. She is still just barely making it and has lost some of her self esteem due to all the losses she has experienced over the past several months.

How can the government actually think the expense of getting a picture ID will not be costly to set-up the infrastructure and more bureaucracy, but also to elderly individuals like my sister?

Are the people who were elected to represent us that far removed from us that they truly can’t identify with the hardships they will be causing?"

Cindy Dunne, Winston-Salem

"My name is Billy Mac Watson. I live in Whiteville, NC. I've been voting since I was old enough to vote, 60 years! Well, right now, [a voter ID law] wouldn't impact me, but it could, you know, later on, because I'm 78 years old  and I don't know how much longer my health is going to allow me to drive and have a driver's license. [This law will affect] not just me but a lot of other older people that maybe is already lost their driving privileges because of age, and a lot of them can't afford  or are unable to go somewhere and get a photo ID. It's going to affect them adversely if they're not allowed to vote.

Well, it would make me feel awfully bad, especially when I'm still paying taxes! If I'm going to be taxed for things I oughta be able to vote for people that's for or against them. That's the way I see it.

You know, it's the only way you have of telling people what you like and what you don't, and who you like and who you don't."

"Hi, my name is Catherine Davis, I am partially blind and a chronic diabetic and do not have an ID. I would need someone to take me to get an updated license.

If this bill is passed, it would deny my right to vote."

Catherine Davis, age 78
Wilmington, NC