(Originally posted on LiveJournal.)

There’s a local news story floating around about a lawsuit against the voter registration people over asking someone to provide their social security number to register to vote.

Of course there’s the usual yelling about “if he’s legal, he has nothing to be afraid of, so he MUST be illegal.” (Edit after post: the plaintiff is a recently naturalized citizen.) But after giving it some thought, I think I might just agree with this one.

Georgia has a “motor voter” law, so I registered to vote when I got my driver’s license. When I went to get it, I took my birth certificate with me to prove my age. The birth certificate has a raised seal and shows that I was born in Indiana. Indiana was admitted to the United States well before I was born.

That document proved that I was over the age of eighteen and a United States citizen — and thus, barring a criminal background check, eligible to vote in my state of residency. I’ve done enough criminal background checks to know that they’re usually run on full legal name and date of birth, with a cross-check for prior addresses, which I also had to provide.

So why did the State of Georgia demand my social security number before I could register to vote? I’d already proven personal eligibility. The then-current North Carolina driver’s license that I surrendered proved my identity, and my lease proved Georgia residency. I had demonstrated that I met all the requirements. (For what it’s worth, North Carolina demands the social security number too.)

At the time, I didn’t quibble. But I can see why someone else might — especially since it is possible for a citizen not to have a social security number.

As it is, I got a question about my social security number because the prefix shows it was issued in North Carolina, not Indiana. Um, hello, State of Georgia? Look at my birth date again — it’s prior to 1988.