A hundred years ago, until 1965,  Blacks, American Indians and poor whites had to pay for the right to vote.  In 2011, history is repeating itself.

Republicans in at least 22 states across the country have introduced or have passed voter ID laws.

These bills serve to disenfranchise many low income, minority, elderly and student voters, many of whom do not possess driver’s licenses.  While the bill provides free IDs, the offices are inconveniently located and have irregular hours.  More importantly, there are fees required in the acquisition of the documents necessary to obtain the drivers license, i.e. birth certificate, marriage license, divorce decree, etc.  For elderly voters, these documents are often unavailable.

“It is time to ask: What kind of nation and what kind of people do we want to be? Are we willing to allow this era — our era — to be remembered as the age when our nation’s proud tradition of expanding the franchise ended?” ~ Attorney General Eric Holder

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