ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Married women who take their spouse’s name are having a hard time getting a REAL ID with the deadline just weeks away. Applications to get an enhanced ID are getting denied if women can’t produce their original marriage certificate to prove their name change.
“I was married April 12th 1958,” said Dorothy Ballone from her home in Penfield.
67 years ago, Dorothy Hotchkiss married Joseph Ballone, a Navy veteran and Kodaker. For seven decades, her last name has been Ballone.
When Dorothy applied for a New York State REAL ID at the DMV, she had her ID and a copy of her marriage certificate. The original was long gone.She showed her copy to the DMV clerk.
Dorothy Ballone: “And she took one look at the marriage license and said this is not valid. It has to be an original.”
She was told to go to the church where she got married, St. Jerome’s in East Rochester, but they don’t keep records that go that far back. The church told her to go to the East Rochester Town Hall, but the answer was the same – no records that go that far back.
Berkeley Brean, News10NBC: “So after all that you end up back where you started?”Dorothy Ballone: “Exactly. Exactly.”
Jamie Romeo, Monroe County Clerk, says the original document rule is affecting all kinds of people who changed their names, but especially married women.
Jamie Romeo: “And they’re having harder times getting through this process because it’s not only do you have to have the documents but apparently we need to have the originals with the raised seals.”
Berkeley Brean: “Do you feel discriminated against?”Dorothy Ballone: “Yes I do. I definitely do after this. That’s why I think I continue to pursue it because I thought I can’t be the only one.”
Berkeley Brean: “Is that discrimination against married women who take their spouses names?”Keesha Middlemass, Howard University: “I believe it really is.”
Keesha Middlemass, a professor at Howard University in Washington D.C., is looking at a new federal voter ID bill in Congress called the SAVE Act. It passed the House and would require the same original marriage certificates to prove a name change – original documents to be able to vote.
Keesha Middlemass: “It is discriminating against married women who take their spouse’s last name but also LGBTQ community that may create a whole new hyphenated name.”
Dorothy didn’t give up. She contacted her state rep and the county clerk’s office who gave her name to the governor’s office who called her Monday.
Dorothy Ballone: “Stating we found your marriage license.”Berkeley Brean: “Wow.”Dorothy Ballone: “And I said ‘oh my God. All I’ve done is working out.”
Even though she got married in East Rochester, her marriage certificate was found in the city clerk’s office. Dorothy filled out the application and mailed it today. She’s one step closer.
Dorothy Ballone: “And maybe, just maybe, by doing what I’ve done, I’ve opened a window that maybe others…”Berkeley Brean: “won’t have to go through what you went through.”Dorothy Ballone: “Yeah.”
The SAVE Act would require all applicants using the federal voter registration form to provide documentary proof of citizenship in person. Republicans say the legislation is necessary to ensure only citizens vote in U.S. elections. The bill passed the House last week but faces an uphill battle in the Senate.
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