This piece was produced for HuffPost's OffTheBus by NYU School of Law's Brennan Center for Justice.
By Ciara Torres-Spelliscy
In New York City, we get used to sticker shock: $15 for a mojito: ok I'll nurse it all night. Try insuring a car or even just parking it, forget about it--I'll ride the subway. Rent for two human beings with walls and doors, oh that's going to cost you-- time to move to an outer borough. But recently I had a new source of outrage: the cost of renewing a NYS driver's license.
At first my renewal process was swimming along nicely. I was at the DMV Xpress which for the DMV was moving along at lightening pace: my picture was snapped by the surly woman behind the counter who didn't give me enough warning to even crack a smile, the eye examine was done to confirm that yes indeed the glasses that I wear every hour of every day would also need to be worn while I'm behind the wheel and only a full hour later I got to the down to real business: whipping out my debit card.
"$50, ma'am."
"Did you say $15?" I thought I had gotten off easy.
"No. $50. FIVE ZERO."
I choked. That didn't seem right. But this is a basic form of I.D. I thought. Especially in the "new normal" of 2007 where not having a valid I.D. can cost a citizen her voting rights. I handed over my debit card. At least I'll get miles on this transaction.
A friend of mine is a vice president at Greenwich Capitol. His birthday is two days after mine and so you guessed it, he also has a soon to be expired NYS driving license. He told me he was heading to the DMV soon. I told him to bring his check book. He was incredulous. "Fifty freaking dollars for a new license? You're kidding! Maybe I won't bother to renew." But we both knew that this was a bluff and since I'm a lawyer and he is an economist we can afford the $50 hit.
But this is not true of everyone. $50 for an I.D. is enough to prevent many from getting one. This cost barrier may explain why only about half of New York City residents even have a driver's license. And if a disturbing trend continues in which photo I.D.s are a prerequisite to voting, this $50 piece of plastic may act as a barrier to our most basic constitutional rights. This is one reason why making photo I.D.s a voting requirement makes no sense. People should not lose their franchise just because they don't have $50 to drop on a driver's license. Maybe they have other bills to pay, like that crazy rent which come January is set to jump even higher.