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Real ID, Real Consequences: How Bureaucracy Could Silence Your Vote
Episode 235 • 1st May 2025 • TonyTidbit: A Black Executive Perspective • TonyTidbit ™
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Episode Audio Link: https://podcast.ablackexec.com/episode/Real ID, Real Consequences: How Bureaucracy Could Silence Your Vote

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In this powerful episode of Need to Know with Dr. Nsenga Burton, Dr. Burton sounds the alarm on a looming threat to voting rights: the Real ID deadline on May 7th. She breaks down how this seemingly routine requirement could have serious consequences, especially for women whose IDs don’t align with their birth certificates, potentially preventing them from voting or flying. Beyond logistics, she exposes the deeper voter suppression tactics at play and calls on listeners to recognize and resist the systems designed to undermine democracy. Don’t miss this urgent conversation about protecting your right to vote, your right to travel, and your voice in this country.

▶︎ In This Episode

00:00: Introduction and Welcome

00:19: Understanding Real ID Requirements

01:51: Impact of Voter ID Laws on Women

02:55: Examples of Voter Suppression

04:53: Call to Action and Conclusion

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Transcripts

BEP Narrator:

A Black Executive Perspective.

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Now presents need to know with

the award-winning hyphenated Dr.

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Nsenga Burton, Dr.

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Burton.

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What do we need to know?

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Dr. Nsenga Burton:

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Good afternoon and welcome

to Need To Know with Dr.

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Nsenga Burton.

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I am she.

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I hope that you're having

a wonderful day today.

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I wanna talk to you about

these voting rights issues.

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So in case you have been enjoying

your holiday, your, uh, Easter Holiday

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or Passover, um, you may not be.

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Paying attention to what day it is.

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But by May 7th, you will

have to have a real id.

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This is what you need to know.

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Uh, you'll have to have what is called

a real ID in order to verify that you

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are, um, a US citizen in order to travel.

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So, for example, uh.

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If you have a driver's license

or if you're old enough to have a

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driver's license, you have to have a

driver's license that has a real ID

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on it that is indicated by a star.

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It's a black star or silver

star, or gold star, sorry.

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Uh, and is indicated by one of

the one or two of those things.

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If you look at your driver's license

and you do not have one, you need to

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go to your local Department of Motor

Vehicles, which we call the DMV.

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And go ahead and get an

updated driver's license.

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Otherwise, the only way that you'll

be able to travel within the United

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States and beyond is with a passport

or another id, military ID or

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another ID that has been verified

with your, uh, birth certificate.

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If you do not have a copy of your

birth certificate, just contact, um.

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Your, uh, oh, I'm having a

brain fart on the agency that

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has the birth certificates.

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Oh, no.

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Okay.

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So, uh, every municipality has

a place where you can go, it's

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usually city hall and you can

get your, um, birth certificate.

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Um, but you need to have a

copy of your birth certificate

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in order to gain the real id.

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So these things are important because

you have all of these initiatives that

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are in play based on some of the things

that the Trump administration wants.

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So for example.

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Your ID has to match

your birth certificate.

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They're trying to get that

passed through right now.

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That doesn't sound like

a huge deal, right?

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We've been talking about this for

voter, uh, id, um, and voter suppression

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and all of that for decades now.

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But this is why it really matters

now because most women who are

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married have changed their names.

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The majority of us women who get

married change their last names, so

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their name is not gonna be the same

as it is on the birth certificate.

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Thus, and so if the requirements that you.

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Identification for your voter ID

must match your birth certificate.

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Exactly.

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That means it's going to disenfranchise.

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Millions of women voters.

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All right, so these are

what we call workarounds.

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This is what people do who can't

outright steal the right to

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vote, even though they've tried

valiantly and have succeeded.

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Like in my home state of Georgia,

um, where we have the architect of

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voter suppression as our current

governor, who's probably gonna run

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for national office at some point.

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Um, and you know, if you need an

example, you only need to look at the 1.5

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million people who were purged

from the roles based on the fact

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that their IDs didn't match.

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Exactly.

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And so what they mean by that is, um, or

what they meant by that back then was, uh,

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let's say if my middle initial is K and

it's not on my id, they would purge it.

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The name had to be exactly the same.

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If you had, let's say your middle name

completely spelled out on your id and,

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um, on your voter registration, it

has the initial of your middle name.

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Uh, they would purge it, uh, if there

was a spelling error of some sort.

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Let's say my last name is Burton,

and maybe, you know, somebody was.

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Doing something, it was

Barton, it wasn't a big deal.

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Um, and you've been making it so far.

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They purged you, like you

got out, you had to go.

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Um, and then even in terms of

the identification that they

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accepted, that was changed.

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So people who have been working,

even in the government governor's

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office, um, for decades, were now

no longer able to vote even though

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they knew who those people were.

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So when we think about this coming from

the federal level or the national level.

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We have to think about, um, what

that means and what that looks like.

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And we have to go into, we have to take

all measures so that we can have the

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right to vote and the right to travel

and the right to do things that, uh,

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looks like, uh, maybe more problematic

because we are leaning into fascism and

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that we being our current administration.

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Um, because this is not really

democratic ideals or practices.

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This is something you would find in

a fascist or a communist country.

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Um, or even I would say a socialist

country to some extent, where

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everything has to come from, um, the

government, uh, you know, the people,

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but the government has to prove it.

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Um.

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And so this is what's happening.

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Um, so I want people to, also,

what I need you to know is that you

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need to have a real ID by May 7th.

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What I need you to know is voter

suppression is real and the women in

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your lives, and maybe you don't care.

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'cause I know there are a lot of people

who are online talking about, you know,

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oh, I want my husband to vote for me.

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I don't need the right to vote.

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My wife doesn't need the right to vote.

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'cause.

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I have her best interest at heart,

but women fought long and hard, uh, to

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earn the right to vote and to have it

this close to becoming, um, to, to be

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this close, to becoming disenfranchised

over literally a technicality.

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Um.

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A workaround to disenfranchise women

voters, um, particularly when he won

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based on white women voters is nuts.

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So that's how much he

trusts you, white women.

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He, he's like, thank you for your

votes and now let's disenfranchise you.

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So, um, that's what you need to know.

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Get your stuff in order, get your

paperwork in order, and make sure

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that you protect yourself and your

right to vote and your right to

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travel in this country and beyond.

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Um, because.

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We live in a democracy and we have

to fight to make sure that our rights

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exists and continue and that they

are protected even when people are

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trying to run work around around us,

um, to disenfranchise us as we watch.

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Okay?

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All right, so without further

ado, join us next Thursday.

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Definitely.

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Join, uh, Tony Franklin and Chris on

A Black Executive Perspective podcast,

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the award-winning, uh, podcast.

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Join them next Thursday and join me again.

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Have a wonderful day,

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BEP Narrator: A Black

Executive Perspective.

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