By: Team Sherrod

Right now, voting in this country can be tough. But it doesn’t have to be.

As Sherrod puts it, we need to be making it easier—not harder—for Americans to make their voices heard.

Read more about the current barriers too many people face in casting their votes, and then show your support for Sherrod, who fights every day to make sure everyone, no matter their age or zip code, can make their vote count.

NPR: For Older Voters, Getting The Right ID Can Be Especially Tough

Ina Jaffe – September 7, 2018

Key points:

• Nearly three dozen states require voters to show identification at the polls. And almost half of those states want photo IDs.
• But there are millions of eligible voters who don’t have them. A 2012 survey estimated that 7% of American adults lack a government-issued photo ID.
• Advocates for voter ID laws argue that showing identification at the polls reduces the incidence of voter fraud, although studies have repeatedly shown that in-person voter fraud is extremely rare.
• As 53-year-old Pamela Moon said, she never had a driver’s license. “I can drive,” she said, but she never got her license, “’cause I can’t afford to buy no car.”
• Studies show that the people who are most likely to be prevented from voting by ID laws are not only low income, but also African-American or another racial minority.
• Another complication that affects mainly older women is the name changes that come with marriage and divorce.
• For people like Jimmy Lockett, 54, who’d spent 30 years without an ID panhandling, doing drugs and working odd jobs off the books—finally getting that ID has helped him turn his life around. He now has a steady job and housing. He has been sober for more than six months and is looking forward to voting for the first time ever and to “maybe help change the world just a little.”

Read more here.