Civil and Human Rights Coalition: Alabama DMV Debacle Even More Evidence of the Need to Restore the Voting Rights Act

WASHINGTON – Wade Henderson, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, issued the following statement regarding the decision by the state of Alabama to close 31 driver’s license offices, many in majority Black counties, one year after requiring voters to have a photo ID to vote:

“This is exactly what voter discrimination looks like.  The same tactics of yesteryear, of placing administrative barriers in the way of registering and casting ballots, are alive and well in 2015. 

While Republicans in Congress refuse to protect voters of color by restoring the Voting Rights Act, Alabama is once again depriving Black voters of their right to cast ballots.  

Just last year, the state of Alabama implemented a requirement that voters must produce a photo ID at the polls – a move they had tried to make in 2011 but were blocked by the preclearance requirement of the Voting Rights Act. Just last week, the state made it harder to get those IDs in majority Black counties. 

Since the Supreme Court gutted the VRA two years ago in Shelby County v. Holder, states across the country – but particularly those who were once required to receive federal preclearance of their voting changes – have erected new barriers to voting that have fallen hardest on voters of color.

Congress currently has bipartisan VRA restoration bills pending in both houses, but Republican leadership refuses to protect voters against discrimination. They share the blame for turning back the clock on 50 years of progress toward ensuring the right to vote for all.”

Wade Henderson is the president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, a coalition charged by its diverse membership of more than 200 national organizations to promote and protect the rights of all persons in the United States. The Leadership Conference works toward an America as good as its ideals. For more information on The Leadership Conference and its 200-plus member organizations, visit www.civilrights.org.

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