How an Iraq War Veteran Overcame Voter ID Barriers: Margaret’s Story

When Margaret (name changed for privacy), 54, and her children were granted Special Immigrant Visas in 2013 in exchange for her service to the United States government during the Iraq War, she thought they would be taken care of in their new home country. She was wrong. 

Margaret fled Iraq’s capital with her three- and four-year-old children after facing severe threats to their safety for collaborating with the US military. They were relocated to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Margaret was relieved. She had long dreamed about building a better life for her children in the United States, a nation of immigrants after all. But when they arrived, she realized the promise of American life was far from reality. 

“Nobody cared about us because I wasn’t a soldier, even though I did everything like the soldiers,” Margaret said. “Maybe even more.”

During the Iraq War, Margaret served as a Tactical Interpreter for the US Army, riding inside heavily armored tanks deployed during urban combat. She survived many explosions, leaving her with severe psychological and physical trauma, including a heart condition that later caused a stroke. 

“When I came to the US, I was very sick. Soliders had health insurance, but we had nothing. I had to take care of it all myself.”

In 2020, seven years after arriving, Margaret and her children became US citizens, and Margaret registered to vote. The following year, her Pennsylvania state ID expired, and living on a tight income, she couldn’t afford to renew it. For four years, Margaret had difficulties banking and receiving essential government benefits because she only had an expired ID. After moving to a new neighborhood, she also needed an unexpired Pennsylvania ID to vote in her new precinct. 

Beyond these barriers, the recent growing presence of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers in Pittsburgh had begun to worry her, too.

“If they [ICE] see somebody with an accent, they ask them for their ID,” she recalled. “I was thinking, I can’t leave the house until I have money for my state ID.”

In the spring of 2026, while picking up groceries at her local food bank, Margaret found a flyer promoting VoteRiders’ free ID services. At first, she was skeptical. It seemed almost too good to be true. 

“I didn’t believe it. I thought, is this real? So I did a quick search on Google and saw, yeah, it’s real.”

Margaret called VoteRiders’ Helpline, and a trained volunteer named Shelly jumped on her case. Because Margaret already had her underlying documents, renewing her Pennsylvania state ID would be a straightforward process. Shelly helped Margaret complete an online application, and within a few days, Margaret received a letter in the mail instructing her to visit her local ID-issuing office to have her photograph taken and pick up her new ID. VoteRiders arranged free transportation, covered the ID fee, and within 12 minutes of arriving, Margaret had her new Pennsylvania state ID in hand. 

Now, she has the identification she needs for daily life and is fully prepared to cast her ballot in upcoming elections. 

Margaret is deeply concerned about the country’s growing affordability crisis and wants to use her vote to advocate for America’s working class and immigrant communities. 

“This is a country of immigrants. Everybody deserves a new place to be and a new beginning.”

“Poor people need so many things,” Margaret said. “We need the minimum wage to be raised so that when we go to work, we feel like it’s worth it. Everything is marked up now. We can’t buy stuff. We spend months without meat. I can’t buy a car. I’m using buses, but the bus is expensive too. Hopefully, somebody will come to help us.”

Healthcare access is another important issue for Margaret as a voter. She relies on Medicaid, but would still have to pay $25,000 in out-of-pocket expenses for non-cosmetic dental surgery. 

“I don’t even have the money to pay for a photo ID. How am I supposed to pay $25,000 to fix my teeth?”

“I have to live with the pain,” Margaret concluded. “Or, it’s free with Medicaid to pull out all of my teeth. Nobody is going to do that. There is no mercy in their hearts. There is no other option to help us. We need free healthcare.”

For now, Margaret is taking care of her health as best she can while dreaming about the day her children, now 16 and 17, will go to college. She firmly believes in free higher education, and when Election Day comes, she’ll be ready with the ID she needs to make her voice heard on the issues she cares about most.