Today on KPFK/Pacifica Radio’s The BradCast I interviewed Joyce Block (seen at right), the 90-year old Doylestown, PA resident who has voted legally for 70 years, without fail and without a problem until this year, when the GOP’s new polling place Photo ID restriction law threatens to disenfranchise her and so many others like her.
Her story is all the more remarkable considering she was born just two years after the 19th Amendment was ratified, giving women the right to vote — at least until now. She is a pistol and more than ready for the fight! We were also joined by her grandson-in-law Det Ansinn, the Doylestown Borough Council president who has been working like hell to try and see that Block will be able to vote this year.
Earlier this week, I wrote about Block’s remarkable story and the difficulty she’s had in receiving one of the so-called “free” IDs, under the new restriction, that would allow her to vote this year, despite all of the paper work she presented to prove that she was who she said she was after a 30 minute-trip to the DMV (thanks to Ansinn!) Today, we got an update on her story, and it includes a bit of good news…sort of.
We were also joined by Desi Doyen with the latest Green News Report, and some good callers, including one who wanted to challenge me on gun rights. So I obliged him…
Download MP3 or listen online below [appx 58 mins]…
[audio:http://bradblog.com/audio/KPFK_BradFriedman_JoyceBlock_042512.mp3%5D
Reminder: I don’t post ALL of the KPFK shows here, but you can subscribe to the RSS feed to get ’em all, or stop by the KPFK BradCast archives anytime.
That Joyce Block eventually obtained a photo ID is not nearly as significant as the extraordinary time and expense entailed in obtaining a supposedly “free” ID.
In her case, it entailed three thirty minute drives to the DMV, courtesy of her grandson-in-law. For many, it would involve paying bus fares — assuming one is not disabled and incapable of traveling by bus.
As I understand it, the ACLU is contemplating a legal action. Hopefully, one of the issues the ACLU raises is whether PA’s GOP photo ID legislation violates the 24th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which states:
Joyce is a great activist.
The biggest thing they did was to supply radio show hosts and “callers” with sentences like, “I NEED ID TO BUY A BEER”, etc…that was the most effective thing the Vote Deniers did. I heard things like that FLOODED on the radio show airwaves here in Pennsylvania. Second, was the MEDIA FAIL of not informing the public of the facts/statistics that Voter Fraud is non-existent.