Here's a bit of a problem for Mississippi voters. If you don't have acceptable photo identification to vote, you have to have your birth certificate to get a voter ID. But you can't get your birth certificate unless you have photo identification. This is apparently a
problem that state officials were well aware of, but not really doing anything about.
Pamela Weaver, spokeswoman of the Mississippi Secretary of State's office, today confirmed the catch-22 problem, which the Jackson Free Press learned about from a complaint posted on Facebook. One of the requirements to get the free voter ID cards is a birth certificate, but in order to receive a certified copy of your birth certificate in Mississippi, you must have a photo ID. Not having the photo ID is why most people need the voter ID in the first place.
The new voter ID law, thankfully, can't be implemented because the Department of Justice hasn't cleared it. Mississippi is among the states that have to submit changes to voting laws for approval by Justice under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. Voters, though, are left in limbo, not sure of their voting eligibility come November. That uncertainty doesn't seem to bother Mississippi officials. According to Justice, they met with state officials in early December to talk about how the state could move forward with the new law, and the state has yet to present a plan.
Limbo and confusion are among the tools Republicans deploy to keep voters away from the polls. Anything that can make voting the most cumbersome as possible, to make people give up before even trying, is nearly as effective as just taking the vote away from them. It appears to be what Mississippi has chosen to use this election.
And for more of that story for the week, make the jump below the fold.
In other news:
- Florida doesn't often provide a lot of good news on the voter suppression front, but this is a good one. A coalition of labor, young people from the NAACP and from immigrant rights organizations are working together to overcome voter suppression and get out the vote. They have a big job on their hands.
Staying in Florida, the state has yet another legal challenge on its hands. The new law passed last year has been subject to a number of challenges, and chaos more or less reigns in the state. Five of the state's counties were completely enjoined from implementing the new laws because they are subject to pre-clearance by the DOJ under the Voting Rights Act. Then-Secretary of State Kurt Browning told the remaining 62 counties to move forward with the new laws, and there's the rub.
Now the ACLU and others want an administrative judge to order state election officials to rescind the policy. Their legal challenge contends the Department of State is exceeding its authority and violates a state law that requires a uniform set of election rules.
"Gov. (Rick) Scott's insistence that the state go forward with two different sets of voting laws and procedures in different counties not only violates Florida law requiring uniform elections throughout the state, it is a recipe for chaos and another embarrassment for our state," said Howard Simon, executive director of the ACLU of Florida in a statement.
- In Pennsylvania advocacy organizations including Demos, Project Vote and the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, are suing to make the state comply with the National Voter Registration Act, or Motor-Voter. According to plaintiffs, "the majority of clients seeking public assistance services in Pennsylvania are simply not being offered voter registration opportunities, and some public assistance agencies do not even have the voter registration forms available on request." This information and assistance is required by the NVRA.
- Florida has gotten plenty of attention for disenfranchising felons, but Virginia (another battleground state) is no slouch, either. More than 300,000 would-be voters are blocked from voting there.
Did you know that "the United States is the only country that permits permanent disenfranchisement of felons even after completion of their sentences"?
- And a tiny silver lining: Delaware's state senate passed legislation to allow felons to vote after completing their sentence, rather than having to wait five years after their release.
- The Justice Department has, for the second time, denied a request from South Carolina to approve its new voter ID law. The state has already sued in federal court, with a trial set for July 30.
- Finally, Kevin Drum adds to Mother Jones' ongoing and excellent coverage on voter suppression with a long look at the decade's long project Republicans have been working on to reinstate Jim Crow. It's well worth the read.