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Voter Suppression Reports Have Surfaced Mostly Against Black Voters In Alabama

Alabama is one of the states with the strictest of voter regulations.  Reports coming from voters in Alabama were citing voter suppression which is a form of voter intimidation.  Changes in the voting rules in Alabama made headlines due to an ID being required to vote and subsequently locations to obtain a drivers license has been closed supposedly in areas heavily populated by blacks.  A move that was preventing residents from getting what was required to vote and/or register.

Some Alabama also reported residents stated their registration had been deemed inactive and their was a “special” process they had to go through to correct it.

At the end of the day, and all of the voter tactics allegedly tried didn’t stop the people from making their voices heard as Doug Jones defeated Roy Moore in what was clearly an upset for the Republican Party and major blow against the President’s agenda.

Read more as reported by the Revere Press:

Photo Credit: Crooksandliars.com

As voters in Alabama head to the polls today to elect a new senator in the special election, there have been reports of attempts at voter suppression — particularly directed towards black voters.

The special election Tuesday will determine whether Democrat Doug Jones or embattled Republican Roy Moore — who has been the subject of several sexual misconduct allegations –will fill Jeff Sessions’ former Senate seat.

But Alabama has some of the strictest voter ID laws in the country that disproportionately affect citizens of color, who are among the estimated 118,000 residents in the state without photo identification. Alabama also has no same-day voter registration, no automatic registration, no pre-registration for people under the age of 18 and no early voting.

And of course, there are already accounts surfacing of people having unexpected trouble at the polls.

One Alabama voter, Annalise, recorded a video detailing her struggles with poll workers this year, despite not having any trouble during the presidential election in 2016. Annalise explained that she went to vote using the same photo ID — which expires 2024 — she used to vote in 2016, but faced a number of additional questions regarding her address and the color of her hair, as well as where she worked.

According to the ACLU, these questions are concerning because “The address on your ID does not have to match the address you are registered at. You can use an out-of-state driver’s license as long as you are registered in AL.”

According to state voter requirements online, Annalise felt she had easily met each stipulation.

Another Alabama voter, Brittany, returned to a polling place she has voted at her entire life — including in November 2016 — only to find that she and a number of other longtime residents had been marked inactive.

And in order to rectify the issue, these voters must then fill out a form, requiring information such as the person’s county of birth. Brittany, who was born out of state, said she was lucky to have brought her birth certificate to the polls, anticipating problems.

A similar situation of voters being inexplicably marked inactive was also noted in a precinct in Dothan, AL, where multiple voters were told they needed to fill out provisional ballots instead.

According to voting rights group VoteRiders, requiring those marked inactive to fill out a provisional ballot is against the law.

“If your name appears on the inactive voter list, you MUST be allowed to re-identify and vote a REGULAR ballot,” the group tweeted.

According to The Young Turks, the NAACP has also received multiple reports as well of voter suppression following intimidating statements about voting made by the Alabama Secretary of State.

Regarding police presence at polling stations, an NAACP also told reporter Ken Klippenstein that during past elections, “police have checked voters for outstanding warrants at polling stations, which can deter people from voting.”

In another instance in Ramer, AL, the precinct chief has been reported as being “hostile” towards voters.

Source: Revere Press

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