Birth Certificates and Voting

Image by Dom Dada via FlickrA 2004 law called Proposition 200 may stop a 97 year old Surprise Arizona woman from voting. Shirley Preiss has been voting since 1932 but this law might just stop all of that.

"I'm a legal American," Preiss said. "I'm born here. Born and raised in America."

The Arizona law requires voters to produce specified types of identification when casting ballots at polling places and to provide proof of citizenship when registering to vote either for the first time or in a different county.Preiss was born in 1910 in Clinton, Ky., before birth certificates were issued.

Ms. Priess also no longer has a drivers license at 97 years of age, as she no longer drives. She also has never had a passport. Her son has tried everything and filed documents attempting to get her registered to vote. "A delayed birth certificate," he said. "You have to have witnesses. Everybody's dead."When the family tried to get school records from Tennessee, they found out the school no longer exists."We're talking about something that is so precious, that right to vote, "said Linda Brown of the Arizona Advocacy Network. "How many hurdles are OK to jump through? How many barriers are we going to accept?"

State Rep. Russell Pearce spearheaded the law and said it protects the integrity of the voting system."To get a movie, you have to prove who you are," Pearce said. "To go rent a car, you have to prove who you are. That's part of life."

Ms. Preiss who is a former school teacher and was also alive before women secured the right to vote, feels this law is a step backwards. The former school teacher said she has voted in every presidential election since 1932. Her son said his next recourse is to try to appeal to the Governor's office for help.

Experts claim it is difficult to ascertain how many other people that are legitimate citizens are being thwarted by this law. The Arizona Advocacy Network said almost 40,000 voter registration forms have been rejected since the state's voter ID law went into effect.