The data already exists, and Michigan can address over 90% of this issue at virtually no cost.
There are barriers to voting. But let’s not let them stop real practical steps forward.
When I was a foster home for children in the City of Detroit, I tried to help as many people as I could obtain things like birth certificates and driver’s licenses.
And I was prepared to pay the nominal fee if they said they couldn’t afford it. That was never the real issue. For most, it simply was not a priority, and they didn’t want to be bothered.
What was true is that many people in Detroit at the time did not want to go in person to a state agency, even if I offered to drive them.
There was a genuine fear that anything outstanding, like parking tickets, warrants, missed child care payments, unpaid bills, and any other hiccup they had in life, might be exposed at a state agency.
At the same time, this cohort felt historically locked out of the political process and wasn’t going to vote anyway.
One person who did take me up on my offer welcomed a ride during the day. This potential voter had a sense of humor.
He said he had a car, but he could only drive it at night. In urban elite speak, his car was title, registration, insurance, and license insecure. In rural Michigan, we can collapse that term into a single word.
I’m also pretty sure he was a Freelance Pharmaceutical Specialist. Otherwise, he was perfectly clean.
Voting barriers are real, but there is something we can do to get ahead of the Voter ID issue
Michigan’s Secretary of State has already determined the citizenship status of every holder of a REAL ID compliant driver’s license or state ID.
This covers the vast majority of its citizens who actually vote. The problem is that citizenship status is not disclosed on the face of a REAL ID-compliant license or ID – it simply has a REAL ID star on it.
It was a choice not to disclose citizenship status.
(Citizenship is disclosed if the driver pays the extra $45 for an Enhanced Driver’s License, or EDL. Only 5 U.S. states (all border states) provide the option of the Enhanced Driver’s License – Michigan is a state that offers the EDL. Yet only 10-15% of Michigan License holders opt to pay the fee and obtain the EDL. The $45 fee covers the cost of the RFID Chip and related infrastructure. Those licenses have an American flag on the front in addition to the REAL ID star.)
Michigan lumped green card holders and citizens together on its REAL ID, making the current version invalid to show citizenship
To obtain a REAL ID, a citizen must present citizenship documentation in person. Aliens must present a Green Card. Temporary legal residents must show their student visa, work visa, or documentation of temporary protected status.
As a result, there are 5 possible variations of ID in Michigan:
1. REAL ID – U.S. Citizen (In-person verification of citizenship)
2. REAL ID – Permanent Resident (In-person verification of a Green Card)
Federal law did not require states to delineate these first two categories, and Michigan chose not to go beyond the federal requirement. But it could have.
3. REAL ID – Limited Term (In-person verification of legal non-citizen status). This category is disclosed on the ID by saying “Limited Term” because federal law requires it.
4. Standard License (Online/kiosk or mail renewal without in-person document verification). This type of ID has no REAL ID star.
5. EDL – this ID qualifies as a REAL ID and discloses citizenship status with an American Flag. These comprise 10-15% of Michigan IDs.
Simple programming and printing changes (after legislative action) could easily tease out Categories 1 & 2 above to disclose citizenship status on the face of the REAL ID without adding any additional administrative burden. The data suggests this would cover 90% of actual voters.
It is time to take the voter ID distraction off the chessboard – the vast majority of voters support it
84% of Americans favor showing ID to vote. In my rural district, it is likely around 100%. This will likely become mandatory at some point. Let’s get ahead of this issue.
If Michigan acts now, on all new issuances of REAL ID licenses, a new line could appear that states “Citizen” or “Green Card Holder.”
At almost no cost.
Over time, routine renewals would clean up this entire group.
I view this as an efficient cost savings. If something like the SAVE Act were ever passed, Michigan would address at most 10% of its voter population. Otherwise, Michigan would have to re-issue all REAL IDs at once at great cost.
Let’s avoid this cost.
It would also signal that Michigan takes voter ID seriously. The Secretary of State should immediately propose this type of legislation. This would take the issue off the debate table while also showing a penchant for efficiency and cost savings.
And voters would be pleased.
Why hasn’t this been done to date?
Both parties like having this issue on the table from a fundraising standpoint. It is a nicely curated issue that gets partisans from both sides to open up their wallets. It is certainly a donor, advocate, and special-interest-group issue.
It is not a voter issue.
I also haven’t encountered a single voter who said they couldn’t get a REAL ID. Even if someone mentioned using the Affidavit of Citizenship in casual conversation, they also said they just hadn’t gotten around to taking their documentation into the Secretary of State. Not that they couldn’t.
I also told my daughter, who is a Librarian at our county library, that if someone asked for help ordering a birth certificate or other legal documentation but couldn’t afford it, she could use my personal credit card to pay for it. That has never been an issue.
As I described at the beginning, cities have additional issues. None of those interfere with what I am proposing here.
It is time to take these curated issues off the table.
