Ala. to stop issuing lic. in counties with 75% black voters

[sparrowsong]

www.rawstory.com/2015/10/alabama-to-stop-issuing-drivers-licenses-in-counties-with-75-black-registered-voters/#.Vg2Q-Q3shCc.facebook

The state of Alabama, which requires a photo ID to vote, announced this week that it would stop issuing driver’s licenses in counties where 75 percent of registered voters are black.



Due to budget cuts, Alabama Law Enforcement Agency said that 31 satellite DMV offices would no longer have access to driver’s licenses examiners, meaning that residents will need to travel to other counties to apply for licenses. The move comes just one year after the state’s voter photo ID law went into effect.



AL.com’s John Archibald asserted in a column on Wednesday that the U.S. Department of Justice should open an investigation into the closings.



“Because Alabama just took a giant step backward,” he wrote. “Take a look at the 10 Alabama counties with the highest percentage of non-white registered voters. That’s Macon, Greene, Sumter, Lowndes, Bullock, Perry, Wilcox, Dallas, Hale, and Montgomery, according to the Alabama Secretary of State’s office. Alabama, thanks to its budgetary insanity and inanity, just opted to close driver license bureaus in eight of them.”



“Every single county in which blacks make up more than 75 percent of registered voters will see their driver license office closed. Every one,” Archibald explained. “But maybe it’s not racial at all, right? Maybe it’s just political. And let’s face it, it may not be either… But no matter the intent, the consequence is the same.”



The columnist observed that Alabama had created both a civil rights and public relations problem for itself.



“It is an affront to the very notion of justice in a nation where one man one vote is as precious as oxygen,” he insisted. “It is a slap in the face to all who believe the stuff we teach the kids about how all are created equal.”



“So roll out the welcome wagon to the Justice Department, and tell the world what it already so desperately wants to hear,” he concluded. “That Alabama is exactly what they always thought she was.”



“That Alabama refuses to pay for its own government, and used it as an excuse to keep black people from the polls. That Alabama hasn’t changed a bit.”

[pixy0stix]

Well hello, Jim Crow.

[shortstax]

Holy hell. RAGE.

[mcsangel2]

Are you FUCKING KIDDING ME.

[tacosforlife]

Hey, but voter ID laws are supposed to protect the integrity of elections, right?

VOMIT.

[jillboston]

I recall this discussion here a few years back. Was told it was no big deal for people to get I.D.s so what's the outrage about.
THIS right here. THIS is what it's about.
Voting is our most fundamental right as citizens and these fuckers want to take it away from people who voted for the blah guy.

[illgetthere]

The offices that were closed performed less than 5% of all transactions from last year; none performed more than 1 transaction per hour. Also, this only includes state run offices. Does it not make sense when faced with a budget crisis?

Edit: I will take back that it makes sense if there are predominantly white counties with annual transaction numbers that are just as low.

[blink]

But racism doesn't exist anymore. They should just go somewhere else to get a license. I mean, they probably don't have jobs so they have all the time in the world to travel. Or wait! Wait! They should just move somewhere else if they don't like it. It is all the liberal-PC folks fault that we have a budget crisis, because they throw a fit if we close down these offices.

[NewOrleans]

OMFG

[pixy0stix]

Oct 1, 2015 16:30:29 GMT -5 illgetthere said:

The offices that were closed performed less than 5% of all transactions from last year; none performed more than 1 transaction per hour. Also, this only includes state run offices. Does it not make sense when faced with a budget crisis?

Edit: I will take back that it makes sense if there are predominantly white counties with annual transaction numbers that are just as low.

The problem is, you can't just stop serving the areas with low population density.

[ttt]

Oct 1, 2015 16:30:29 GMT -5 illgetthere said:

The offices that were closed performed less than 5% of all transactions from last year; none performed more than 1 transaction per hour. Also, this only includes state run offices. Does it not make sense when faced with a budget crisis?

Edit: I will take back that it makes sense if there are predominantly white counties with annual transaction numbers that are just as low.

Where do these numbers come from? I'd like to see the data.

[tacosforlife]

Oct 1, 2015 16:30:29 GMT -5 illgetthere said:

The offices that were closed performed less than 5% of all transactions from last year; none performed more than 1 transaction per hour. Also, this only includes state run offices. Does it not make sense when faced with a budget crisis?

Edit: I will take back that it makes sense if there are predominantly white counties with annual transaction numbers that are just as low.

Your post originally said that local offices are still there. I am not seeing that these exist. For example, I looked up Bibb and Bullock counties. I don't see any county-run driver's license offices. Am I missing something? Because it looks to me like people who live in those counties have to travel to another county to get a driver's license. When a photo ID is required to vote, this is a serious disenfranchisement.

[illgetthere]

Oct 1, 2015 16:44:06 GMT -5 tacosforlife said:

Oct 1, 2015 16:30:29 GMT -5 illgetthere said:

The offices that were closed performed less than 5% of all transactions from last year; none performed more than 1 transaction per hour. Also, this only includes state run offices. Does it not make sense when faced with a budget crisis?

Edit: I will take back that it makes sense if there are predominantly white counties with annual transaction numbers that are just as low.

Your post originally said that local offices are still there. I am not seeing that these exist. For example, I looked up Bibb and Bullock counties. I don't see any county-run driver's license offices. Am I missing something? Because it looks to me like people who live in those counties have to travel to another county to get a driver's license. When a photo ID is required to vote, this is a serious disenfranchisement.

I take it back because I'm not sure if those counties have them due to the low population. I know my county has 7 offices with only 1 on the state list. While those counties only had 1 location on the state list, I thought they had at least one other in the county. The first 2 I looked up do not so I will not make that assumption.

[tacosforlife]

Oct 1, 2015 16:47:42 GMT -5 illgetthere said:

Oct 1, 2015 16:44:06 GMT -5 tacosforlife said:

Your post originally said that local offices are still there. I am not seeing that these exist. For example, I looked up Bibb and Bullock counties. I don't see any county-run driver's license offices. Am I missing something? Because it looks to me like people who live in those counties have to travel to another county to get a driver's license. When a photo ID is required to vote, this is a serious disenfranchisement.

I take it back because I'm not sure if those counties have them due to the low population. I know my county has 7 offices with only 1 on the state list. While those counties only had 1 location on the state list, I thought they had at least one other in the county. The first 2 I looked up do not so I will not make that assumption.

Yeah, this is a MAJOR issue. You can't enact a law that says you have to have a state-issued photo ID to vote and then close down the only place in the county to get said photo ID.

The DOJ is going to be all the fuck over this. As it should. This is seriously a disgrace.

[msmerymac]

Oct 1, 2015 16:30:29 GMT -5 illgetthere said:

The offices that were closed performed less than 5% of all transactions from last year; none performed more than 1 transaction per hour. Also, this only includes state run offices. Does it not make sense when faced with a budget crisis?

Edit: I will take back that it makes sense if there are predominantly white counties with annual transaction numbers that are just as low.

Close all the DMVs you want. Just don't make presenting a state-issued driver's license or non-driver ID a requirement to vote. 

[illgetthere]

Oct 1, 2015 16:41:36 GMT -5 ttt said:

Oct 1, 2015 16:30:29 GMT -5 illgetthere said:

The offices that were closed performed less than 5% of all transactions from last year; none performed more than 1 transaction per hour. Also, this only includes state run offices. Does it not make sense when faced with a budget crisis?

Edit: I will take back that it makes sense if there are predominantly white counties with annual transaction numbers that are just as low.

Where do these numbers come from? I'd like to see the data.

whnt.com/2015/09/30/alea-announces-driver-license-office-closures-includes-two-in-north-alabama/

It says it here, but I don't have the raw data. It also says that probation (edit: probate) judges and revenue commissioners can now renew as of July, and those offices are still there from my understanding. Alabama also started an online renewal program in July, although I admit there is a $2.xx surcharge and you can only do it every other time. An office visit would be required once every 8 years. The main issue is for people getting their first license.

[captainobvious]

JFC.

[jena]

How are these offices only processing 1 transaction an hour? And yeah, if that's all they are doing then something needs to change. Like combine offices so it's the same office as the tax assessor or some other government office. Not this shit.

[illgetthere]

Oct 1, 2015 17:16:15 GMT -5 jena said:

How are these offices only processing 1 transaction an hour? And yeah, if that's all they are doing then something needs to change. Like combine offices so it's the same office as the tax assessor or some other government office. Not this shit.

They are allowing the revenue commissioners to renew licenses, just not issue new.

[tacosforlife]

Oct 1, 2015 17:16:15 GMT -5 jena said:

How are these offices only processing 1 transaction an hour? And yeah, if that's all they are doing then something needs to change. Like combine offices so it's the same office as the tax assessor or some other government office. Not this shit.

A lot of them are sparsely populated. I looked up Bullock County - it had 10,915 people at the last census. So 1 transaction an hour sounds about right. My understanding from reading articles is that most of the offices were located within other government offices. It has to do with the person qualified as an examiner who can issue the license - those people traveled around the state, doing Monday in this county, Tuesday in that county, and so on.

But you would think that one alternative could be to train people to do multiple jobs, so someone who already works in that county could do this. But that wouldn't let you disenfranchise people at the polls.

[ESF]

Whenever we e had discussions where there is actual evidence of voter disenfranchisement as a result of voter ID laws, the supporters either blatantly admit they have no problem with it, or just don't even bother to show up in the thread to defend or discuss. People just do not fucking care that there is a GOP-led plot to make sure minorities and the poor cannot vote so they can protect their majoritities. They'd rather cling to the falsehood that voter fraud is both real and widespread enough to impact elections than to accept the fact that these policies, and the party that votes for them, are designed to disenfranchise.

This is not going to change any minds. Because if you support voter ID laws, you are either racist or too stupid to see that you are supporting security theater that serves no purpose other than to ensure people in power are protected, plain and simple. #sorrynotsorry

[pixy0stix]

I don't remember who the defenders of the voter id are anymore.

[fuckyourcouch]

My mouth is just hanging open. Are you fucking kidding me

[emilyj]

Montgomery County. The county where the state capitol is.

Bull. Shit.

[illgetthere]

Oct 1, 2015 20:36:17 GMT -5 emilyj said:

Montgomery County. The county where the state capitol is.

Bull. Shit.

It's not closed in Montgomery county.

[illgetthere]

whnt.com/2015/10/01/secretary-of-state-alabamians-can-still-easily-obtain-photo-ids-for-voting-despite-driver-license-office-closures/

More info. It appears there are more options to renew and they are still in every county. Again, the real issue is in obtaining a first license.

Edit: the board of registars mentioned in this article is for the free voter ID that can still be obtained in every county. The previous article I posted was about places to renew in every county.

[illgetthere]

Oct 1, 2015 16:50:08 GMT -5 msmerymac said:

Oct 1, 2015 16:30:29 GMT -5 illgetthere said:

The offices that were closed performed less than 5% of all transactions from last year; none performed more than 1 transaction per hour. Also, this only includes state run offices. Does it not make sense when faced with a budget crisis?

Edit: I will take back that it makes sense if there are predominantly white counties with annual transaction numbers that are just as low.

Close all the DMVs you want. Just don't make presenting a state-issued driver's license or non-driver ID a requirement to vote. 

I just posted a new article stating that there is still a board of registars in every county issuing free photo voter id's to anyone that does not have another acceptable ID.

[illgetthere]

Oct 1, 2015 16:49:33 GMT -5 tacosforlife said:

Oct 1, 2015 16:47:42 GMT -5 illgetthere said:

I take it back because I'm not sure if those counties have them due to the low population. I know my county has 7 offices with only 1 on the state list. While those counties only had 1 location on the state list, I thought they had at least one other in the county. The first 2 I looked up do not so I will not make that assumption.

Yeah, this is a MAJOR isue. You can't enact a law that says you have to have a state-issued photo ID to vote and then close down the only place in the county to get said photo ID.

The DOJ is going to be all the fuck over this. As it should. This is seriously a disgrace.

I can't tag on my phone, so I'm quoting you to let you know I posted another article stating there is still a board of registars in every county that issues free voter photo id's if you don't have another acceptable form.

[heyjude]

Well holy shit!!!!!

[heyjude]

Oct 1, 2015 22:33:57 GMT -5 illgetthere said:

Oct 1, 2015 16:49:33 GMT -5 tacosforlife said:

Yeah, this is a MAJOR isue. You can't enact a law that says you have to have a state-issued photo ID to vote and then close down the only place in the county to get said photo ID.

The DOJ is going to be all the fuck over this. As it should. This is seriously a disgrace.

I can't tag on my phone, so I'm quoting you to let you know I posted another article stating there is still a board of registars in every county that issues free voter photo id's if you don't have another acceptable form.

That's still fucking crap and if you take two seconds to think about it you will see why.