Texas ID law attacks married women's right to vote by requiring proof of name change.
Oh, you didn't know about this? It's been hidden away under talk of race, ethnic group, lower income, and the never ending stream of public shooting, sex crimes, and political BS that has been on the news channels for months now.
When my basic political rights, voting, are attacked in any state of this Union I am moved, I am pissed, and I am frightened. I took chance that my sister authors felt the same way so I asked for their thoughts. I'll share what they sent me below for you to check out.
Not all of us are married, not all of us have taken a spouse's surname, but this is an issue that affects far more women then men.
Let's look at some facts.
A majority of women start using their husband's surname after marriage.
Most of these women never pay the money and do the paperwork to get their IDs legally changed to this new married name.
Men and society expect women to take the husband's surname and to pass that on to kids.
No state automatically changes the woman's (or man's) legal ID status to the new married name. That almost always requires paperwork and money to do so.
Most people who take a new surname upon marriage never bother to get new legal ID changes.
What does this mean? It means that in Texas, starting in the next elections because this ID law is now being enforced, women who have changed their surnames may be denied the right to vote even if they have been doing it for decades!
It took American women decades to get the Constitutional changes to be able to vote at all.
So my question to the women in Texas, to the women in America is: You just roll over and let that right be taken from you?!
Of course you didn't have to change your surname, that is not required in any state, none, zero, that was a choice you made or perhaps you didn't make but guess what? There are consequences for every choice you make conscious or not.
That does not make this law any less an assault on married women since they are the vast, vast, vast majority of people who would "change their names" without legally changing their names.
I opened up my day to any of the other writers for this site to comment on the same topic if she liked and had the time. Only one did though you should not be surprised if the others chime in with their opinions in the future on their days.
Our newest Butt-Kicking Woman, Writer Lisa Kaye says:
"I have mixed feelings on this new law. On the one hand I don't think it's a bad idea to require that your identification actually identify you. While it can be a pain in the neck to take care of, changing your name on things like your driver's license, social security card and other legal documents is just something you are supposed to do when you undergo a name change. As my divorce attorney explained to me many years ago, failure to do so can be considered fraud.
What I do find onerous in this law are the hoops one must jump through in order to get an updated ID. In this day and age when so many public records are available online, it seems that a document obtained via an official website should be acceptable. After all, this is what the information age was supposed to be all about."
Onerous... indeed and making things difficult is the tactic of all voter suppression laws and regulations. If you make it difficult enough, it have enough hoops, fees, missing hours of work, double checking of documents, tests, etc, then maybe the folks you don't want to vote will just give up and walk away. That's an attack on Democracy in its modern form and I personally find it disgusting.
What do you all think?
Articles you can read about the issue:
ThinkProgress article on the new Texas Voter ID law
WSJ 2011 article on surnames
Huffington Post article on surnames
Men's attitudes toward surnames
How To Legally Change Your Name
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