In my recent post about the new PA voter ID law, I noted that a very, very significant number of registered voters - up to 18% of all registered voters in Philadelphia (home to half of the state's African-American population) - may not currently possess an identification card that will allow them to vote in November. Supporters of these laws argue that requiring people to get an ID is a small price to pay in order to prevent voter fraud. It seems worth figuring out what the actual supplemental cost of voting is for those who currently lack required ID.
I therefore present may totally back-of-the-envelope calculation of the poll-tax assessed by PA's voter ID law. I use the working assumption that time is worth 7.25/hour. This is a fiction if the preparation time does not actually displace paid labor, but does allow us to monetize the cost of voting to be allocated to ID acquisition. I assume that photocopies cost .15 per page and that all mailings can be done for .45 first class postage. I also assume that this is all occuring in Philadelphia County, where there is public transportation to help you get to one of the five DMV locations in the county. In other counties, a person without a driver may have to spend even more to get cab service. Of course, some people will be able to get a ride - but given gas prices (and the cost of parking in cities), it seems unlikely that the effective cost of such travel will be less than the SEPTA public transit fare of $2 each way. More elaborate details on my calculations appear at the bottom of the post. And yes: I recognize that some people miss work, school or other activities in order to vote. I assume, however, that this cost is borne by all voters.
1. Grab your Social Security card. Hopefully you have it in hand, if you don't - if, for example, you're retired or you just lost it - you'll have to order one.
Cost of Acquiring Social Security Card. $8.00
2. Grab your birth certificate with raised stamp, or certificate of citizenship or naturalization. If you don't have one in hand, you'll need to order one and I assume that the average person would be ordering a birth certificate from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
Cost of Acquiring a birth certificate in PA. $19.00
3. Grab two proofs residency like lease agreements, utility bills, W-2 forms, and the like. I will assume that you have some version of this around the house to take with you to the DMV.
4. Head to the DMV! Since you can't drive, you'll probably be taking public transit - $4 roundtrip. A reasonable guess is that it will take you 90 minutes roundtrip to get to the nearest facility. And given normal waits, it seems equally fair to assume the visit itself will take 60 minutes. 2.5 hours time is worth $18.12. But good news - they'll waive the ID fee if you sign an affidavit that you need it to vote! Total cost of the DMV trip: $22.12.
Thus, if you have all your documents ready and at hand, the total cost of voting is $22.12. But if you don't have all your documents right now, that's probably because you don't need them right now - and thus the cost of obtaining new ones is entirely caused by the voter ID law.
If you need to acquire a Social Security Card, total cost of voting is $30.12. If you need to get a birth certificate, total cost of voting is $40.12. And if you need both a Social Security card and a birth certificate, total cost of voting is $48.12.
What to make of this? For those concerned about fraud, a $48 fee may seem like a minimal price-tag. But since this cost is allocated only to a sub-population, I propose that the state compensate those who need an ID by this amount. Why should this sub-population be required to fully subsidize the state's anti-fraud efforts? If all citizens gain from requiring ID's, a reasonable person might conclude that voters who bear the brunt of this effort should receive both their PA issued photo-ID and a compensation check in the mail. If legislators supporter voter ID requirements were willing to step up to the plate with a $40 reimbursement to those forced to acquire proper ID, I'd be far less cynical about their motives.
Explanation of cost of acquiring Social Security Card. The cost involved in replacing a social security card includes (what I will arbitrarily define as) 60 minutes of research, form preparation and time to acquire and copy adequate proof of identity. For those involved in this thought experiment - people with no passport or state-issued ID - a work ID, health insurance or Medicaid (but NOT Medicare) card, or certified health record will do. I will treat this as zero cost, though it may not be for seniors on Medicare who may have to order a certified health record. Assuming that the card is ordered by mail (cheaper than bus trips to and from the social security office) and that the person pays .30 for photocopies and .45 postage, and including the 60 minutes of labor, acquisition of the Social Security card would cost $8.00
Explanation of cost of acquiring PA birth certificate. The cost includes 60 minutes of research, document preparation and time to acquire and copy adequate proof of identity. Assuming that the certificate is ordered by mail (cheaper than bus trips to and from the state office or the $10 fee to order online) and that the person pays the required $10 for the document, $1 for the money order, .30 for photocopies and .45 postage, and including the 60 minutes of labor, acquisition of the certificate would cost $19.00.
You won't have to order a birth certificate if and only if you were born in Pennsylvania. Such citizens may instead fill out an form at the DMV and have it sent to the state fee-free. Ten days later, you will receive a letter confirming your birth record. You will then have to return to the DMV with the letter. This means you will need to begin the process 10 days earlier and will spend an additional $4 in public transit fares, as well as approximately 3 hours of additional labor. Because this is so effectively so much more costly than ordering the birth certificate, I will assume our model voter does not choose this approach.
It seems to me to be worth mentioning that the list of documents needed to get the required ID is basically the same list of documents that you might need to verify your employment eligibility on the I-9 form. So, if you don't have your Social Security card and you don't have your birth certificate, you would need to get copies anyway in order to find legal work, right? (I would suggest this means your estimated time costs of obtaining these documents likely wouldn't be displacing paid labor...) That somewhat undercuts your assumption that you "don't need those documents right now" and therefore the entire cost of obtaining these documents is due to the voter ID law.
The time and cost estimates for travel to the DMV seem high to me, as well. I'm not that familiar with Philadelphia, but it seems likely to me if the DMV was 45 minutes away (on average), most individuals might combine the DMV with other errands or tasks that also take them to the same part of town, rather than making a separate trip; in that case, the cost of time and travel wouldn't be exclusively due to the voter ID law either. It's possible that DMV facilities in Philadelphia are so inconveniently located as to make this kind of multitasking impossible, but that seems unlikely to me.
Time estimate for getting the new Social security card... hmm. According to the Paperwork Reduction Act information on the Social Security application form, SSA estimates "about 8.5 to 9.5 minutes to read the instructions, gather the facts, and answer the questions." Maybe you don't agree with that estimate, but I would submit it's a better number to use than a number you admit you arbitrarily picked. Let's assume for a moment that the paperwork requirement for the PA birth certificate is roughly equivalent. That gives a total cost of 20 minutes of labor, rather than two hours, for the documents. When you consider that $36 of your total $48 cost of voting is value of the person's time, the time estimates you're using look a lot more problematic, I think.
Posted by: PeterOrlowicz | July 11, 2012 at 12:30 AM
I send a follow-up that typically ends with a line something like this ~ Should I check back with you in a few weeks or have you decided to go another route?
It lets the prospect off the hook easily. Some simply have a hard time saying, no thanks. I'd rather know something and with the way I framed the question, I always get a response - sometimes I'm pleasantly surprised to hear they are still interested, but life has taken over.
Posted by: yıldızname bak | July 11, 2012 at 02:55 AM
The subpopulation that lives without government IDs is not asked to "subsidize" our anti-fraud efforts; they are asked to do exactly what everyone else has already done. Those of us who obtained government IDs have already contributed our time and effort to fraud prevention, and our time normally costs a lot more than the time of individuals who manage to go through life without an ID. So, the rest of us already paid more than our fair share to reduce voter fraud. It's now up to the undocumented "subpopulation" to do their small part. They aren't asked to do anything that the rest of us haven't already done.
Next thing you know, you'll suggest we compensate the protected "subpopulation" for the trouble of going to the voting place and for the opportunity cost of time they spent waiting in line to vote. And our failure to pay them for this feat no doubt constitutes an illegal poll tax too. Good grief.
Posted by: good grief | July 12, 2012 at 03:55 AM
ernment IDs is not asked to "subsidize" our anti-fraud efforts; they are asked to do exactly what everyone else has already done. Those of us who obtained government IDs have already contributed our time and effort to fraud prevention, and our time normally costs a lot more than the time of individuals who manage to go through life without an ID. So, the rest of us already paid more than our fair share to reduce voter fraud. It's now up to the undocumented "subpopulation" to do their small part. They aren't asked to do anything that the rest of u
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