“On its website, Kenosha County had the official birth certificate request form used by the state. I downloaded it. As I began to fill out the request form I ran into a significant obstacle. The last line of section one asked for a current valid photo ID, including the number, state of issuance and the expiration date,” she continued. “As you can see, this becomes a circular process. To get a state-issued photo ID I needed to have a certified copy of my birth certificate. But to get a certified copy of my birth certificate I needed a valid photo ID.”

Pflasterer ran into a number of other problems along the way and, in the end, decided to supply her driver’s license -- which she has, but many others, especially the elderly and disabled, don’t -- to see how long it would take to get her birth certificate. It came in two weeks.

Now supposedly some of these obstacles would be cleared up by the GOP legislation. The bottom line, though, is that it’s going to make it harder for many folks to vote. And that’s what is really behind the GOP’s efforts to “ensure we have clean elections.” Many elderly, the poor and the disabled, who all tend to side more with Democrats, will have to do the jumping through the hoops.