About a month or so ago, I suggested that everyone needs a passport or

[summer_in_TX]

109. Those documents are required to get REAL ID.

While voter ID has other types available, the REAL ID drivers license is preferred. In Texas all drivers licenses renewed since 2016.

It's onerous to verify your identity sufficiently to get that drivers license. First, Texas closed many Department of Public Safety offices, reducing the number especially in South Texas. (Why South Texas, you ask? Because a higher percentage of Hispanics live there and they tend to vote Democratic.) Anyway it now takes about 6 months to get an appointment to get a drivers license at many locations, because they cut their capacity. And the State added more steps. Birth certificate (original one with seal), marriage certificate(s)/divorce court orders affecting name change(s).

Since women are more likely to have changed their name upon marriage, they are the ones most impacted by the name change documentation requirements. Do they even know where the copies of those are, after a move or two? Maybe in a cardboard box somewhere still?

It's been maybe 3-4 years since I had to renew my drivers license, but it was very time consuming. Plus the DPS office was a 45 minute drive away. Nowhere close to public transportation either. Pretty far outside the city limits too, so if able to use Uber or Lyft it would have cost quite a bit. If I hadn't had a car of my own and had to rely on someone else to take me, it would have been even more problematic. The cost in time and money even for those with their own transportation was a lot.