Jun 9

Jun 9 Episode 508: Kat Calvin

In conversation with Kat Calvin, Founder and Executive Director of Spread The Vote. Spread the Vote helps members of our communities empower themselves to be heard at the polls: with IDs, registration, education, and turnout.

Musical credits:

"Are You Listening" from Elephant Shaped Trees by IMUNURI.
Released February 3, 2018.
Composed by André Pilette, with the help of Adam Garcia, Stephanie Leary, and Dan Wilson.
Lyrics written by Stephanie Leary.
Produced by André Pilette and Stephanie Leary.
Mixed by Brett Ryan Stewart of The Sound Shelter in Nashville, TN.
Mastered by Michael Fossenkemper of Turtle Tone Studio in NYC.
Song used with permission by the band.

Episode Transcript

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This transcript is AI-produced and may contain errors. If you need a cleaned-up version, please email twobroadstalkingpolitics@gmail.com.

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Arthur 0:00

Hi, this is Arthur and you're listening to Kat Calvin, founder and executive director of Spread the Vote on Two Broads Talking Politics. Go get your vaccine.

Kelly 0:35

Hi, everyone. I'm Kelly. This is Two Broads Talking Politics. And I'm on today with a returning guest. This is Kat Calvin, who is the founder and executive director of spread the vote. Hi, Kat.

Kat Calvin 0:47

Hi, how are you?

Kelly 0:49

I'm well. So it's been a while since we last talked, I think you were on once in 2018. And then a little over a year ago in March of 2020. So I feel like the whole world has changed since then, multiple times over so many ways. So very, very many ways. So first, in case people don't remember from last time, just tell us a little bit a little intro on what spread the vote is and what you do.

Kat Calvin 1:19

Sure. So spread the vote is a nonprofit organization, we primarily do two things every day of the year, we help people get government issued photo ID, there are over 21 million eligible voters who don't have ID, which you of course need for jobs, housing, medical care, upsettingly COVID testing and vaccines in most places, all sorts of things. But you also need ID to vote in 36 states and and more so with this sort of new slew of voter suppression bills that are passing and so we make sure that people have ideas. And then during elections, we do a lot of voter education and help people get to the polls.

Kelly 1:55

And I think since last time we talked spread the vote has expanded to more states. So what what all states are you in now or how many, I suppose you don't have to list them all.

Kat Calvin 2:05

I every time I try to list them, I get it wrong. We're in we're in or are currently watching I in 17 states, you can go to spread the vote.org slash states and see them all because I can no longer do the list.

Kelly 2:20

That's exciting, though that. So let's talk then some about general reasons people might not have an ID and then I suspect having just gone through the process of renewing my own driver's license. So this is all very exacerbated right now. But what's the some of the sort of reasons that people might not have a government issued ID?

Kat Calvin 2:42

Yeah, well, for anyone who's ever been to the DMV, which hilariously, I actually have a friend who needed to get our license renewed, went today couldn't get it done. But I need to get my Real ID. So we're like getting up at the crack of dawn to go tomorrow. So like, we all know how difficult it is to get to the DMV, and I live in California, where they actually make it pretty easy. And it's still ridiculous. And that's just sort of for every day. But you know, ideas. First of all, when you go to the DMV, any DMV at any state, you need a huge stack of documents, you need birth certificates, you need proofs of residency and identity and all of these different things, which can be really difficult to get particularly if you look at the percentage of folks who don't have ID, you know, one way that it's easy to think about this is if you don't have ID, you can't work legally, right, which means that it's the folks that we are working with are mostly unemployed, or under the table employed, which is often worse than being unemployed, a lot of people who aren't housed a lot of returning citizens, we have a huge crisis of people without disability or with disabilities not having IDs, etc. And so when you look at the challenges of say, getting a birth certificate, that's already annoying enough for anybody, but when you may not have a home or may not have the money, then it can be really complicated. I you know, if you go to vital records, and most states and ask for a birth certificate, they ask for your ID. So we have to use a very expensive and complicated way to help folks get IDs, same thing if you need a social security card, which I mean, who you get it when you're like a baby, and then you know who can hold on to it, right? The types of documents that they asked for, can be easy if you're a person with a home, who has utility bills, and all these different things, but it's not as easy if you don't. And so, you know, folks don't have ID, you know, often because they never got it. We work with a lot of young people who, you know, their parents can't help them with sort of the funds are getting the documents. I'm you know, we have a huge problem in this country with foster kids turning 18 and literally just being dumped out on the streets without any documents. You know, we also have, you know, folks who, once you become homeless, your chances of losing your documents obviously significantly increase. And so we have folks who may have been evicted due to job loss or who went bankrupt because of medical issues. I'm wearing a lot of storm prone states where we have folks who are lose their homes because of hurricanes or fires or whatever. And within once they're out on the streets, you to lose your documents, someone steals them, we've helped a lot of people who the police have, you know, burned or thrown away all of their documents, and then all of a sudden, they don't have anything. You know, we also have a lot of returning citizens, when you're released from prison, they tell you go get a job, but a place to live, but they don't give you the ID that you need to do that. And so, you know, there's so many reasons, we also, you know, part of the reason that people don't really recognize yet this huge ID crisis that we have, is that it's actually relatively new, it's one of the results of changes that were made after 911. And so, you know, we have a lot of folks who are elderly, who had an ID 20 years ago, you know, but then in the meantime, their idea has been lost or stolen, or, or I, you know, expired, etc. And all of a sudden, they can't get one because the requirements are so much more stringent. And there are a lot of elderly people who never had a birth certificate, right? Or have all these different circumstances. So they found themselves now in a situation where they can't get an ID, but they could get one, you know, 20 years before. So there are a ton of reasons. You know, I think one thing that is very clear to me after doing this work for so long is that, you know, we're all really just like to medium sized disasters away from being homeless, I, you know, what is the stat that like, 60% of Americans don't have $400 in an emergency, or maybe like, higher than that, right. And so for so many of the people we help, it really is just, you know, this one thing happened, and then this other thing, and there was no safety net, and then they ended up on the streets or this or that, and they didn't have an ID. And so they couldn't get a job, they couldn't get housing, you know, there's so many food banks that will give you food, if you don't have an ID, there are shelters that won't let you sleep there, if you don't have ID, etc. And then it just becomes this impossible thing where if they couldn't get that plastic card, they couldn't start their lives over again.

Kelly 7:02

Yeah, and you know, I don't know if people have tried to go recently, you mentioned you're going tomorrow to get your ID, you know, a lot of DMV is were closed for a significant stretch during the pandemic. So I had to go, my license was, you know, they kept extending the time and extending the time. But that means there's a huge backlog of people who need to go. So my husband and I had to go a couple of weeks ago, and it was like an all day affair to take the train to the one DMV that's open stand in line for two hours, like it's a really big process, even for people who are relatively privileged. And this is fairly easy to do. So what are the ways that your organization can help? Like, what are the pieces that you can do to help people that are in these situations to help them get their IDs?

Kat Calvin 7:48

So we do everything we help get every piece of documentation that you need? So when we first meet a client, you know, we go through and say, all right, in order to get an ID, you know, in Texas, you need these five things. Which of them do you have? Which of them don't you have, and then we help them get each piece that they don't have, whether it's going to government offices, or doing it online, we pay for everything we, you know, called departments of corrections, or hospitals, whatever we have to do, we get all of the documents that are required, and then we provide transportation to the DMV, and you know, and yes, making appointments. Lately, I'd like getting in for a while it was impossible, you know, now even this whole Security Administration's are still closed and dmvs have limited hours. So it's a real challenge. We have a waiting list too. But we get each person to the DMV, and we do whatever, you know, pay for everything, advocate for them there and make sure that they get an idea in their hands. So we help with every piece of the process.

Kelly 8:41

And how do people find out about your organization? How does it come to their attention that you are a group of people who can help with this process?

Kat Calvin 8:50

So a few ways, one of the big things that we do is we partner with local organizations in every city you were in that serve the same demographic, but that cannot help with the IDPs. You know, so a lot of shelters, food banks, jails, and departments of corrections and organizations that work with returning citizens, organizations that work with students or people disabilities or whatever. And we partner with them, because they're usually serving their clients and communities and a lot of other ways, but they don't have the funds or expertise to help with the IDP. So we help with the IDP. So that's a big part of you know, we have volunteers and staff who go to, you know, the same shelter every Tuesday from three to six and a half for four years now. So everyone knows they're there. Word of mouth is pretty huge. You know, we work with a lot of different social workers and caseworkers. So there's a lot of both us just partnering with organizations and being in the community. And then at this point, because we've helped so many people get ideas, and we've been in these communities for so long, that people will just say, Oh, my friend told me that you helped him get an ID and they'll sort of know where to find us. I'm so it's really We try to put our tentacles out in as many places as possible. But you know, they're we're the only national ID obtaining org, there's some really great sort of local ones in some different areas. But it's really rare for there to be an organization that can help with everything to get my ID and that pays for everything. I and so usually, it doesn't take long once we show up somewhere to have, like hordes of people who are like, Oh, my God, we have this piece that we needed.

Kelly 10:23

Well, with that, you know, if someone came in, you know, dropped a billion dollars on you or something, you know, what are there like backlogs of people that that you could help what what is the size of this estimated population look like?

Kat Calvin 10:35

Well, there's over 21 million eligible voters who don't have ID, which is really the only study that's been done, it was said a little bit ago, you know, estimations of worries in this space is that it's probably closer to 25 or 26 million adults that don't have ID in my country. I, you know, so this. So yeah, there's, there's no shortage of people, right? I'm so so what gave me a billion dollars, I would just get more ideas. I'm because it's at this point, you know, we know what we're doing, we know how to do it, we're very good at that. It's just that there are just so many people who need ideas. You know, every state has hundreds of 1000s to billions of people who don't have ID and for us, it's just a matter of just trying to help as many people as possible. It's, you know, it's not super easy. It takes usually a few weeks to help someone gather all the documents and etc, and get there. And that's even pre COVID. Now, you know, who knows? So it's really, you know, we will never run out of people. And this is why we started a 501 c four last summer, to try to work on changing policy and states to make it easier for more people to get ideas, because it's hard as we'll try whatever we can to get 21 million people ideas, but if we can try to change legislation so that, you know, every vet gets a free idea, every person experiencing homelessness or whatever, I try to expand that then we can help 21 million people get IDs on a larger scale. Um, because Yeah, well, we'll never we'll never run out, unfortunately. Yeah.

Kelly 11:59

So you mentioned there's a lot of reasons that people need ID a lot of things that Id can be used for one of those things, of course, is voting. What What does that look like after people get IDs, the people that you're helping, for instance, do they then go and vote? Do they become voters?

Kat Calvin 12:17

Yeah, so a large percentage do I'm 77% of our clients have never voted before. I we've had sort of first time voters from ages zero to 79. And, you know, once we help folks get IDs, and we don't have any requirements for who we help, they don't have to be eligible to vote, they don't have to be citizens in the undocumented whatever. But about 80% of our clients are eligible to vote, we register about 92% of those. And then work very hard. You know, when elections come up to help those folks get to the polls, we make election guides that we print out because only 1% of our clients have access to a phone regularly. So like Internet access isn't a thing. So we put them out, we do community events, we walk people through guides, we help them make voter plans, we pick them up, we take them to the polls, etc. I'm and so I, you know, we do a lot of hands on work during elections to make sure that once we help folks get the ideas they need for their lives, you know, then are able to sort of talk to them about voting, that we're then helping with all of the steps, because if we just get them an ID and register them and walk away, they're never going to be able to overcome the 85 other micro barriers that make it so difficult for people to vote. So we try to help them out with every every piece of it.

Kelly 13:29

So a lot of states, of course, are going in the opposite direction of what we'd like to see making it harder to get ideas, making it harder to vote, what are some of the the kinds of policy changes that would help in this space that would help people be able to get IDs that would help these populations be able to vote without a lot of barriers?

Kat Calvin 13:49

Well, we need two things, you know, almost every developed country in the world, and even a lot of developing countries in the world just have a national ID that people just get right. And they make it very easy to get they don't put all these barriers in place. And that's what we should have is, you know, when you turn 16 or 18, you should just be able to walk into the DMV and get an ID you know, it's the government has, they know where I am right now what I'm wearing or what I had for breakfast, like they know I am and we know he has sometimes someone will just pull something from the computer because like we're having such challenge if somebody cries, and they're like, Well, here it is right here. So I know it's all in the system. And so what we need is like every other country to have a national ID, or for states to just have state IDs and just make sure everybody gets one, I'm that would eliminate a lot of these problems. If people had IDs, they could get jobs, they could get housing, right, like they could get all of these things. And so it would eliminate a lot of the problems up front. You know, if we had a national ID and then you wanted to have voter ID laws fine. If everybody has shoes, then you can require that people have to wear shoes right to go to vote. The problem is that 21 million plus people don't have an ID. And so then when you say well, you have to have this thing to vote even though we know that 11% of the population doesn't have it. Can't get it because we've made it so difficult, then we haven't you know, that's a problem. So HR one as our one that's in Congress right now the for the people act effectively ends voter ID laws, it still requires that people sign an affidavit, which is the essence they shouldn't have to, but it's a fight I'm willing to have after it gets passed. I'm about what you know, we need to make sure everyone has an ID because you need it for everything and for life. But if before we do that, or until we do that, then we need to get rid of voter ID laws. Everyone who is for voter ID laws talks about voter fraud, which everybody knows at this point is not a thing. Every study has shown it almost never happens, right? So we all know, that's Bs, there's really no reason for it, except to stop people from voting, you know, so my two my two big changes, if I had a magic wand, and I could just sort of make two national policy changes, we'd get rid of voter ID laws, and we'd make sure everybody has an ID

Kelly 15:54

Can I get that magic wand? After you're done with it? I've got a few things, I'd like to change that exit to you. Alright, so we were talking about sort of large numbers and impacts and things like that. But what, what does it mean for individuals who are able to get ID you know, do you? Do you have stories of the people that you've been able to help? And what that's done in their individual lives?

Kat Calvin 16:18

Yeah, I mean, it's everything. You know, it's one of the first things that people ask when they get an idea is they'll usually turn to the volunteer, or like field staffer and say, Can you can you take me to the mall or take me wherever I want to apply for a job, right? Like, that's, that's a huge piece of first thing people say, they say, I'm a person again, because you're not without an ID, and they want to apply for a job, you know, I just bust sort of this myth that like, people don't want to everybody wants to work, people want to work with fair wages, and you know, preferably health insurance that a few days off, but like people want to work, and it's the first thing people say is, oh, I can apply for a job now. And that is huge. And then you know, housing, you can't get housing without an ID, you can't get placed into housing assistance. Without an ID, you know, so when we work with, you know, homeless shelters that have programs where they can help people get placed in housing, but they can't do it without 90. And so it's those, it's just, it's the basics, people want jobs, people get housing, if you know, people are able to get medical care, we work with a network of sober living centers, because people can't get it to rehab without IDs, right? You know, so it's all of these sort of basic life, things that the rest of us take for granted, that are the things that are most important, you know, and then there's, there's other things we don't think about, like you can't open a bank account without ID, right. And I won't even get into the the problems with the unbanked in this country. But you know, like, we had a client who her husband had died, like 16 years before, but she didn't have an ID. And she was just, you know, elderly lady, and they had a joint bank account, but she couldn't access it without an ID. So she couldn't access any of her funds. And her son had also been in prison for 13 years. So you can't visit someone in prison if you're ever 16 without an ID. So for 16 years, she hadn't been able to access any of her own money that was, you know, hers after her husband died and their joint account, and she couldn't visit her son. And these are two really critically important things, you know, and then we had to jump through some hoops, because there are these complications, which is why shouldn't have an ID in the first place. And then when we finally got it for her, it was like, Oh, I have money to live now. And I have, I can visit my son for the first time in over a decade, you know, and it's, it's things like that, that feel a little bit that for you and your life are huge, you know, and it's just being able to, you know, we work with, with centers and organizations that work with people with disabilities who are trying to be placed into independent living situations, but need an ID to do so. But like having that freedom as a person with a disability, to have your own home and to have control of your life is so important, and is a thing that you know everyone deserves, but that we make much more difficult. And so it's really, it's all of the little things like like we don't know what's ever come to us and said, I need an ID so I can get on a plane for vacation to Hawaii, right? I need a job. my very favorite that we did have a guy who said I can finally go to a bar where nobody knows me, right? But that's a big deal. You know, it's just it's the it's the freedom and the independence and being a human being but for the folks we work with, it's I want a job. I want a place to live. I you know, I want to be able to feed my kids like I just want to be a person.

Kelly 19:35

Well, I suspect that no one listening has a billion dollars to throw at you. But I also suspect that people listening want to give you money right now to continue this work. So how can they do that? And how else can they help?

Kat Calvin 19:48

Well, if you have an uncle with a billion dollars if you know Jeff Bezos or something, just tell him first of all, pay your people fair wages, but then give the rest of the money to us. But if not, I every dollar counts seriously. Our average It cost is $40. So you know, we're really it's it's small increments that together make big change. But you can go to spreadthevote.org/donate, which is an awesome place to contribute. And you can also go to spreadthevote.org/volunteer if you'd like to get involved.

Kelly 20:15

Excellent. And I strongly encourage people to follow spread the boat on social media too, because there's always these heartwarming stories of of what people are able to do with their ideas. So is there anything else cat that you want to make sure that we talked about today?

Kat Calvin 20:30

The big thing, if you know anybody who lives in West Virginia, please ask them to call Joe Manchin his office five times a day and tell him that we need filibuster reform so that we can then pass the for the people act. So everybody don't call his office, if you don't live in West Virginia, that won't help anybody at all. Call whoever your senators are, and just remind them, this is the thing that we want, and to maybe take some cookies over to Joe Manchin and try to bribe him. But if you know anyone in West Virginia, they really need to call him because he right now is the one thing standing in the way of us passing the biggest Voting Rights Act since the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which the Supreme Court already gutted once and they're about to get again. So we desperately need this and it's all on the hands of one man in West Virginia. So call everyone if you don't know people in West Virginia, make friends with people in West Virginia on social media get a phone book, I beg them to call Joe Manchin his office every few seconds.

Kelly 21:30

Agreed cosign and bills aren't always the most elegantly named, but I really like the name for the people act because how can you say I'm against the people

Kat Calvin 21:42

and yet many people are. It's incredible.

Kelly 21:46

Yes, yes, indeed. Well, on that note, everyone go to spreadthevote.org/donate and and help people get IDs and then let's find everyone we know in West Virginia to call Joe Manchin,

Kat Calvin 21:59

please for the love of God. Awesome. Thank you so much for having me.

Kelly 22:02

Yes. Thank you, Kat.

Sonya 22:06

Thank you for listening to Two Broads Talking Politics, part of the DemCast Podcast Network. Our theme song is called Are You Listening off of the album Elephant Shaped Trees by the band IMUNURI. And we're using it with permission of the band. Our logo and other original artwork is by Matthew Weflen and was created for use by this podcast. You can contact us at TwoBroadsTalkingPolitics@gmail.com or on Twitter or Facebook @TwoBroadsTalk. You can find all of our episodes at TwoBroadsTalkingPolitics.com or anywhere podcasts are found

Transcribed by https://otter.ai