When natural disasters strike, they destroy everything in their wake — including the records that prove who we are. Residents of the Deep South, including communities along the Gulf of Mexico, know this reality all too well.
Every year, from June 1 through Nov. 30, Southerners prepare for hurricanes. Every year we go through the same checklist: stock up on water and candles and gather our most important documents: birth certificates, passports, our marriage license, Social Security cards, and voter registration cards. It’s been this way since we were children.
But this year, those documents carry a new weight: they may determine whether we can vote at all…