Numerous legal cases and investigations have proven that voter fraud (almost) never happens; it's hard enough to get people to vote once. So voter ID laws are seeking a problem that doesn't exist (thereby increasing the bureaucracy--and our taxes--unnecessarily), and they disproportionately burden the poorest among us, even when there are sufficient means of procuring a state ID.
What happens when a state with a tough voter ID law suddenly makes it much harder for minorities to get driver’s licenses? We are about to find out in Alabama.
Facing a budget crisis, Alabama has shuttered 31 driver’s license offices, many of them in counties with a high proportion of black residents. Coming after the state recently put into effect a tougher voter ID law, the closures will cut off access — particularly for minorities — to one of the few types of IDs accepted.
According to a tally by AL.com columnist John Archibald, eight of the 10 Alabama counties with the highest percentage of non-white registered voters saw their driver’s license offices closed.
“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 wrote.
Archibald also noted that many of the counties where offices were closed also leaned Democrat.
“But maybe it’s not racial at all, right? Maybe it’s just political. And let’s face it, it may not be either.” he wrote. “But no matter the intent, the consequence is the same.”