An 82-Year-Old Voter’s Long Journey to Her First Birth Certificate: Carolyn’s Story

When Carolyn was seven, her mother moved their family from Phoenix, Arizona, to Tucson. Many belongings were left behind, including, Carolyn assumes, her birth certificate. By that time in their lives, Carolyn’s mother had already moved their family and changed both their last names several times. 

When her mother enrolled her at her new school in Tucson as Carolyn Harrison (last name changed for privacy), Carolyn, at her young age, told her mother she was keeping this name for good. 

From that moment forward, Carolyn built her life and career as Carolyn Harrison, earning two degrees from the University of Arizona and teaching elementary school for 24 years. 

An Unexpected Barrier to Senior Services & Voting

Throughout her 82 years, Carolyn had never needed to provide a copy of her birth certificate. That is, until she applied for a utility subsidy on her fixed income and learned she couldn’t qualify without one. With skyrocketing utility costs, Carolyn couldn’t afford to pay her bills and was increasingly worried that her home would be repossessed as a result.

Carolyn requested a copy of her birth certificate from the Vital Statistics office in Los Angeles, where she was born in 1944, but her request was denied — there was no record of her birth. “I felt stuck, like I couldn’t move forward,” Carolyn explained.

“I was afraid. How could I prove I’m a citizen of the United States? Do you know how frightening that is? My house could have been taken away from me. Everything I have could have been taken away because of one document.”

In May 2025, Carolyn reached out to Pima Council on Aging (PCOA) for help, and they knew exactly where to refer her — VoteRiders. 

Unraveling an 82-Year-Old Paper Trail with VoteRiders & Pro Bono Legal Support

Tracking down Carolyn’s birth record proved to be extraordinarily complex because she didn’t know her birth surname or the exact names of her mother and father. Susan, a trained VoteRiders volunteer, guided Carolyn through submitting a request to the California Department of Public Health – Vital Records to manually search for Carolyn’s birth record in their physical historical records. But because Carolyn had never legally changed her name as an adult and couldn’t prove a legal link to her mother’s record, she would need a court order to obtain her birth certificate. 

After determining that Carolyn’s case required specialized legal representation, VoteRiders tapped its pro bono legal support network and covered all associated costs, including application, document requests, and shipping fees. Meanwhile, Sharon, a pro bono attorney, took on Carolyn’s case, working alongside another attorney named Ellyn and Valerie, the Arizona Organizer at VoteRiders.

“This was a case that kept me up at night,” our volunteer Susan recounted.

“It was an enormous undertaking that involved hard work by many people. It was like a puzzle that had missing pieces. I searched ancestry databases for Carolyn’s birth name, but I kept coming to dead ends. Without Valerie on the ground in Arizona to help Carolyn, and Sharon and Ellyn providing legal support in California, it would never have happened. It was truly a team effort.”

Together, the team spent months throughout the fall of 2025 compiling a robust paper trail of Carolyn’s life, gathering school and Social Security records, college transcripts, tax documents, voter registration records, her deceased mother’s death certificate, her Social Security Record indicating her place of birth, and even a photograph from her childhood. An attempt to order Carolyn’s mother’s 1906 birth certificate failed because Carolyn couldn’t prove that she was related to her. 

“I gave them my documents so that they could show whoever needed it to see that I really did have a life, that I wasn’t a nobody,” Carolyn said.

From January through March, Valerie regularly met with Carolyn (and her beautiful German Shepard, Bella) to help her scan documents, join virtual court appearances, and sign paperwork. 

In April 2026, Sharon filed a court Petition to Establish Fact, Time, and Place of Birth on Carolyn’s behalf in Los Angeles. Later that spring, with support from Valerie, Carolyn testified remotely, and the judge ruled in her favor, officially establishing her legal birth record. 

On August 26, 2026, fifteen months after initiating contact with VoteRiders, Carolyn held her birth certificate for the very first time at 82 years old. 

Eliminating ID Barriers to the Ballot Box

With an official birth certificate, Carolyn can now receive subsidized utility bills and no longer has to worry about losing her home. On top of that, Arizona requires documentary proof of citizenship and residency to remain registered to vote a full ballot (e.g., to vote in all local, state, and federal elections), which means Carolyn would’ve been unable to do so without her birth certificate. And because Arizona has a voter ID law to vote in person and a pending ballot measure to extend that requirement to mail-in voting, Proposition 144  Voter Identification and Citizenship Voting Requirements Amendment, VoteRiders is now assisting Carolyn in renewing her driver’s license, ensuring that her freedom to vote is no longer at risk. 

Growing up as a Black American during the Jim Crow era, Carolyn learned early on that rights were never guaranteed to Black people — they were fought for through resistance and continue to be demanded today. 

“As a Black person, there was a time when we couldn’t vote at all,” she recounted. “Voting means a great deal to me, and I make every effort to vote because it is a right, and a lot of people paid for me to have that right. “

Carolyn also firmly believes voting can drive real change and looks forward to casting her ballot in the upcoming November midterm election. “I do think my vote makes a difference. I really do,” said Carolyn.

“That’s why I keep voting. Look at what happened just in the last couple of years with affirmative action. I see things changing. So obviously people’s votes are changing everything.”

Reflecting on her journey with VoteRiders, Carolyn shared that she views our nonpartisan voter ID education and assistance work as a lifeline for democracy, and she’s eager to tell people in similar situations that free help is out there. “Suppose you’re a citizen, and you don’t have a birth certificate — there should be a way for you to vote,” Carolyn emphasized.

“That’s why VoteRiders is so important, and that’s why, by word of mouth or advertisement, people need to know about you. I didn’t know about you, but now I do, and I will tell people that VoteRiders really cares about this country and the people who live in this country.”

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A note from Valerie, our Arizona Organizer:

“Too often we think that our experience is everyone’s experience and that is simply not the case. My hope, in reading about Carolyn’s story, is that people come away with a better understanding of just how difficult it can be for people to access their birth certificate and ID. Every person has their own unique story, circumstances, and life experience. What seems “normal” to one person could be a huge mountain for another person to climb. Equality doesn’t mean equity, and not everyone starts in the same place in life. 

There are a lot of barriers to people having the documents they need to vote. For example, their parents didn’t register their name at birth; they were adopted; they were born on a military base overseas; they lost their birth certificate; or they have experienced loss through catastrophe, illness, or financial difficulties. These are just a few examples I have heard in the course of helping people get their documentation.”
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Interested in sharing a story of how voter ID and/or documentary proof of citizenship laws have affected you, someone you know, or a community you support? Email us at [email protected].