Photography by Amanda Woytus, embarrassed fool
The hardest I've ever worked to vote
Reader, I just love voting, don’t you? Well, today, November 8, during Missouri’s midterm elections, I almost didn’t get to. It is with some degree of humiliation that I, the woman who writes the election roundups for this magazine, am now telling you why I was turned away at the polls and how you can avoid a similar fate. (Tl; dr: I did get to vote, and you should, too, before the polls close at 7 p.m.)
Backstory: For a handful of years, I lived in Brooklyn, so I have a New York State driver license. You might be wondering why, four years after moving to St. Louis, I am still hanging on to it. The deeper answer probably involves input from a therapist. But there are some more surface-level, practical explanations.
First, it was incredibly difficult to procure this ding dang New York driver license. Because my old Missouri license didn’t have some fancy schmancy hologram on it, or something, when it expired and I was living in Brooklyn, I basically had to get Jay Nixon himself to swear it was real so that I could have a New York–issued ID. There was so much paperwork involved. I had to fax things. It took two—two!—trips to a DMV in the basement of a Macy’s, I seem to remember. I think it cost me in the hundreds of dollars to get it. I had to take a test on which New York pizzeria is the best. I had to swear an oath never to move to New Jersey. (I’m kidding about those last two things.) I’m keeping this license. I earned it. (Also, my face looks nice in the photo.)
The second reason is that not too long after I moved into my house, St. Louis County mailed me a voter ID card, and I have used that to vote in every election since I’ve been a Missouri resident. I figured that my tax dollars paid for the county to mail me this ID. Seemed legit to just hang on to it and not get a new license. Also, quite frankly, I would like to see some improvements in this state before I go spending my hard-earned $52 to become a card-carrying member. But joke’s on me! Because I have to vote to see those improvements and because of a new state voting law that went into effect last month, I got turned away once at the polls today because only certain forms of ID can be used to vote now and I barely own any of them! You win, Missouri DMV! You win! Where do I send the check!?
OK, listen: the poll workers? Lovely. They gently broke the news that my voter ID card is now worthless and asked for my driver license. Because it was a New York driver license, they told me to go home and come back with my passport. Easy…except…
Reader, this is how I discovered that my passport expired.
In August.
Cue horror movie music.
Trembling, I returned to my polling place with my expired passport and, in a sad attempt to prove that I am a Missouri resident, a piece of mail with my name and address on it. I explained that every form of ID I own was either issued in a different state or expired. A small mercy to busy working parents, lawmakers, I guess, put a little note in this new law that you can vote with an expired passport as long as it expired after the last general election date (sure). I was allowed to cast my ballot.
If you are in the same boat as me, you can still vote with a provisional ballot, and if you don’t return by 7 p.m. with an acceptable form of ID, election officials will compare the signature on your ballot envelope to the signature in the voter registry. If they match, your vote will be counted.
Also, that new voting law? I don’t want to totally knock it. Eligible voters can now vote in person before Election Day without an excuse, so that seems convenient.
Here are the acceptable IDs you can bring to vote:
- A nonexpired Missouri driver’s license
- A nonexpired or nonexpiring Missouri nondriver’s license
- Any photo identification issued by the Missouri National Guard, the US Armed Forces, including the Space Force, or the US Department of Veteran Affairs, and that is not expired or does not expire
Any document that meets all of the following requirements will also be accepted:
- contains your name, which must match the most recent signature in your voter registration record
- shows your photo
- includes an expiration date
- is unexpired or expired after the last general election date
- is issued by the United States or the State of Missouri
Polls close at 7 p.m. today. If you live in the city, find your polling place here. If you live in the county, find your polling place here.
