I would guess that you heard the details of that one wrong.
There are plenty of southern elderly black citizens - descendents of slaves in many cases - who have already had documented trouble getting Republican-legislature required voter ID's because they do not have birth certificates, or marriage certificates, etc - alot of that stuff was recorded only in court houses that have burned down decades ago. Some rural people have their lives recorded only in family Bibles.
The RGA and their legislative arm ALEC put a massive push to get new photo ID laws passed in Republican-controlled states before the 2012 elections, because that markedly and specifically disinfranchises the poor, the black, the elderly and students, that tend to vote Democratic.
It's voter suppression and poll taxes pure and simple, which is why so many lawsuits are being filed over these laws.
This countries demographics show that whites will no longer be the majority by 2050, and the GOP is fighting to maintain control.
March today in New York over Human Rights Violations in the US, including right to vote suppression:
http://www.dailykos.com
Quote:
For 63 years, Brokaw, Wisconsin native Ruthelle Frank went to the polls to vote. Though paralyzed on her left side since birth, the 84-year-old "fiery woman" voted in every election since 1948 and even got elected herself as a member of the Brokaw Village Board. But because of the state's new voter ID law, 2012 will be the first year Frank can't vote. Born after a difficult birth at her home in 1927, Frank never received an official birth certificate.
There is a record of her birth with the state. But the doctor who signed the record of her birth—which isn't an official certificate—misspelled her maiden name. So she could have pay $200 to have a corrected birth certificate issued; $200 to exercise her right to vote. Welcome to ALEC's America, or as NAACP Sr. Vice President for Policy and Advocacy Hilary Shelton calls it, James Crow Esquire, having to pay for an ID.
|
Quote:
|
The NAACP Legal Defense Fund released a report this week, in preparation for today's action, which "exhaustively details how 25 states have passed laws restricting voting rights, either by requiring photo identification or proof of citizenship at the polls, limiting early voting, passing stricter absentee ballot requirements, curbing third-party voter registration drives and venues for registration, implementing stricter felony disenfranchisement laws, and imposing residency requirements that make it harder for people to register to vote after they've moved."
|
Quote:
Seventy-five percent of black men in the state of Wisconsin currently don't have a valid ID. In Texas, the ID law wouldn't recognize your student ID, but it would recognize your gun license. It's impossible to look at a bill like the one in Texas and say it's not targeted.
It's hard not to look at the Wisconsin governor's subsequent decision to shut down ten DMVs all in the poorest areas and not feel like he must have known the impact that would have, making it harder for certain communities to have access. We at the NAACP have to deal with the carnage of this everyday. We deal with the students who are frustrated, because they show up at the polls and they're turned away being told that unless they can produce a driver's license from that state [they can't vote,] because their student ID isn't good enough.
|