This is just one example of voter suppression, in this case in alabama but i have heard of this all over the place, and of other nasty tricks by which the minority vote, and the votes of the young and the old, and of women, are suppressed. (in texas, for example, there is a law that says if you're married and you took your husband's name, you need not only your birth certificate but your marriage license as well to get your voter i.d., even if you've used your married name for 50 years and have all kinds of i.d. showing it's you.)
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This kind of thing is just the update to the old poll taxes. The purpose is the same. To prevent non-white persons from voting. What isnt' mentioned is that many persons affected also cant' afford the cost of the ID required to vote. Thus, a new poll tax by default.
oh yeah, and some places are trying to bring poll taxes back! i mean in terms of cash up front, instead of hiding it in the guise of hard-to-get i.d.s. actually, though states that require the hard-to-get i.d.s justify that by claiming they're free, so the cost of the i.d. itself, just the i.d. and not everything you need in order to get it, is nil. but the actuality is, you DO need to spend time, money and energy you might not have to get to the part where they give you the free i.d.
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@genessa Yes, there is always the associated costs of getting the documents you need in order to even get the ID. In some cases, due to documents beign destroyed in fires or floods The needed documents cant' be obtained. Then there is the issue of births tha ttook place in rural areas or at home, where no documents (now required) ever existed. In such cases, the people who are affected most re the poor, who also happen to disproportionately have large minority populations, who now are denied the right to vote.
@snytiger6 exactly! and even those who have their birth certificates in hand have to find a way to the nearest dmv, which may be 50 miles away, because the accessible ones have been closed. people with cars and time to do that will be fine; the ones who rely on public transportation and have to work during dmv hours won't (you can't take buses, even if they exist, 50 miles each way during lunch hour, which is usually only half an hour anyway!)
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They only want the wealthy to vote.