Sorry Dorothy, but "the more things change is the more they stay the same."

Poor Dorothy Cooper, I bet she thought the days of fighting institutionalized racism was over in these divided states of America. It's ironic that I would be made aware of this story on the day that Fred Shuttlesworth died. They haven't put poor Rev. Shuttlesworth down yet, but I bet he is already turning in the funeral home.

"Dorothy Cooper is 96 but she can remember only one election when she's been eligible to vote but hasn't.

The retired domestic worker was born in a small North Georgia town before women had the right to vote. She began casting ballots in her 20s after moving to Chattanooga for work. She missed voting for John F. Kennedy in 1960 because a move to Nashville prevented her from registering in time.

So when she learned last month at a community meeting that under a new state law she'd need a photo ID to vote next year, she talked with a volunteer about how to get to a state Driver Service Center to get her free ID. But when she got there Monday with an envelope full of documents, a clerk denied her request.
That morning, Cooper slipped a rent receipt, a copy of her lease, her voter registration card and her birth certificate into a Manila envelope. Typewritten on the birth certificate was her maiden name, Dorothy Alexander.

"But I didn't have my marriage certificate," Cooper said Tuesday afternoon, and that was the reason the clerk said she was denied a free voter ID at the Cherokee Boulevard Driver Service Center.

I don't know what difference it makes," Cooper said.
Cooper visited the state driver service center with Charline Kilpatrick, who has been working with residents to get free photo IDs. After the clerk denied Cooper's request, Kilpatrick called a state worker, explained what happened and asked if Cooper needed to return with a copy of the marriage certificate.

"The lady laughed," Kilpatrick said. "She said she's never heard of all that."
Tennessee Department of Safety spokeswoman Dalya Qualls said in a Tuesday email that Cooper's situation, though unique, could have been handled differently.

"It is department policy that in order to get a photo ID, a citizen must provide documentation that links their name to the documentation that links their name to the document they are using as primary proof of identity," Qualls said. "In this case, since Ms. Cooper's birth certificate (her primary proof of identity) and voter registration card were two different names, the examiner was unable to provide the free ID."

Despite that, Qualls said, "the examiner should have taken extra steps to determine alternative forms of documentation for Ms. Cooper."
Kilpatrick has had to call the state at least twice after taking someone to get a photo ID or have a photo added to the driver's license. State law allows anyone 60 or older to have their picture removed from their license.

The state has been working diligently to make the process easy for residents, Qualls said." [Story]

The state of Tennessee might be working to make "the process easy" , but republicans certainly aren't. What happened to  poor Dorothy Cooper is exactly the kind of effect that they were looking for. If you discourage enough Dorothy Coopers away from the voting booth guess who wins elections?

Down in Texas Governor Big Hair and his peeps are doing the same thing. He signed into law a voter ID bill requiring proper ID to vote. ---For the record, a college ID is not considered a proper form of ID, but come on down with your hunting license there Bubba and you are cool. 
 
"State Rep. Tommie Brown, D-Chattanooga, said Tuesday that Cooper's case is an example of how the law 'erects barriers' for the elderly and poor people -- a disproportionate number of whom are minorities.

"What you do, you suppress the vote," Brown said. 'You don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure that out."'

Well Ms. Brown,  given that no one seems to give a damn maybe you do.