A majority of U.S. states ask for or require citizens to show an acceptable form of ID when they go to vote. But there are lots of reasons someone might not have a valid ID, like lack of transportation, specific paperwork, availability during business hours, and of course, money.
Selene Gomez is the National Outreach Director for VoteRiders, a nonprofit that helps people get IDs in states that require them for voting. On the latest episode of “Race Unwrapped,” she joins host Michelle Tyrene Johnson to talk about how voter ID laws hinder voter participation. Here’s part of their conversation, edited for clarity:
Tell me a little bit about VoteRiders.
We actually got our name after Freedom Riders. So, Voteriders is a national, nonpartisan organization that has been around since 2012. It was actually a product of seeing that red wave taking over a lot of the state legislative sessions and passing some of these voter ID laws.
We focus on not just creating awareness and educating people about whether or not they need an ID to vote or alternatives, if any, but then also actually helping them obtain an acceptable ID.
And also to answer any questions, since we do see that, unfortunately, there's quite a bit of voter confusion going on: people that live in states that have voter ID laws not knowing that they have them, and then even individuals and voters [who] live in states that do not have voter ID laws thinking that they do.
I have to admit that when the issue of needing ID for voting came up, like years ago — years and years and years ago — I was like, but what's the big deal? Doesn't everybody have identification? And then I realized that I said that with the privilege of someone who has had a driver's license since I was 16 years old.
How do you explain to people that it is more of an impediment than they think it is?
For example, in Texas, where I live, one obstacle that we've identified is that these youth, they tend to go get their identification when they're going to get their driver's license, right? But in order to be able to do your test for your driver's license, you need to have an insured car, and then the person that takes you with their driver's license. If your parents are undocumented, or are out of a status, they don't have that. And so you don't have that equitable access to be able to get that, even though you're a U.S. citizen yourself.
For those people [who] think that it's not a big deal, first off, let's think of the root of why, why is this implemented? The excuse is, quote, unquote, voter fraud. There is no such evidence anywhere, right? It's not addressing any issue. What it’s creating [are] obstacles, and if we really care about true representation, then we should be for eliminating as many obstacles and making it as accessible as possible.
Are there any themes that y'all are seeing to the laws that have come up since the last presidential election? What are these new voting bills targeting?
It's kind of across the board, in person and by mail. I think that the only theme that we've seen, and I think it has been the theme since it started, is just becoming more and more strict. It's going the wrong direction.
We see that people of color are a growing population in many of the states, a lot of the states, where this is happening.
So what are the ways that people can contact your organization if they have any questions or concerns or problems now up until Election Day?
The different ways that people can contact us is, one, through our website, voteriders.org. You can go there, and then our chatbot pops up on the bottom right. So if you have any questions or you need help in getting an identification, you can go ahead and get started there. We will ask what language you prefer because all of our resources are fully bilingual in English and in Spanish, and what state you live in. But after that, you could chat with a live staff member or a trained volunteer.
You can also call or text our helpline, which is 866-ID-2-VOTE. So if you have any questions, again, or you need help in getting an ID, know that if you live in a state that has a voter ID law, we cover the cost associated with any underlying documents that you may need to be able to get your identification.