Eighty-four year old Ruthelle Frank has seen a lot of history. And she's helped shape it: since 1948, she's voted in every single election.
But now, because of a new Wisconsin voting law, Frank is having a hard time proving she exists. Born in her parents' home in 1927, Frank never had a birth certificate. And the new law says she has to have one to get the photo ID that allows her to vote. Though she possesses a social security card, a Medicare statement, and a Baptism certificate, none of those documents satisfy the new law.
And getting a new birth certificate is likely to cost Frank $200. The lifelong lover of democracy told the Wisconsin Rapids Tribune "I look at that like paying a fee to vote."
And Frank is far from alone. A recent study shows that 23 percent of Wisconsin seniors--residents over 65--do not have a state photo ID of any kind. Many of them will be turned away from the polls.
Tell the state of Wisconsin not to forge laws that disenfranchise senior voters.
We the undersigned demand that you let Ruthelle Frank vote in the upcoming election. Frank can prove her US citizenship and Wisconsin residency through any number of documents. And she has a lifetime voting history. It's immoral and outrageous that your new law requires her to, in effect, pay to vote. Requiring her to obtain a $200 birth certificate after all these decades of voting is simply ridiculous. We also ask that you carefully examine your voting laws and, as needed, rewrite them so as not to deny other senior citizens their voting rights.
