Alabama to stop issuing driver’s licenses in counties with 75% black registered voters

I guess that seeing Texas messing with married female voters, Alabama was inspired to try some shenanigans of their own…
Alabama to stop issuing driver’s licenses in counties with 75% black registered voters

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.

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Speechless. Jaw literally dropped open.

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Oh Alabama! There you go again!

Now I remember why I left you. Forever.

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ALABAMA!!! we can see you over here in GA! We know what you’re doing there…

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(Do gun licenses in Alabama have photos on them? >.<)

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Well that’s strange. The first time I heard this story, in a source usually unimpeachable, they were closing the DMV’s, which would be an outrage. But they’re only making the driving test unavailable.

Under Alabama law, you don’t need a driver’s license to vote. Any government photo ID will do, and that’s still available.

I think.

Not sure that’s much better. Going to a DMV to get or renew your drivers license takes time. Why do black people in Alabama have to take an extra hour or two of drive time to run that errand? Especially in a state where if you don’t drive, you can’t get anywhere?

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From the link inside the link:

ALEA spokeswoman Anna Morris said that examiners from ALEA’s district offices will no longer spend a portion of their week traveling to and working in the county satellite offices. That means people won’t be able to test for a new driver’s license in those county offices. But the counties could still provide services
such as license renewal.

Law Enforcement Secretary Spencer Collier said ALEA’s General Fund appropriation was reduced from $56 million to $45 million. Collier said the Driver License Division, which issues 1.2 million licenses a year, is understaffed and has 103 vacant positions.

The 31 satellite locations handle less than 5 percent of driver license transactions, according to ALEA. “With the new budget cuts passed by the Alabama Legislature for fiscal year 2016, and with our limited personnel, travel has been eliminated to these part-time satellite locations,” Collier said in a news release. “Driver license examiners will be utilized to staff District Driver License Offices full-time and will no longer provide staffing to these 31 county owned, satellite locations.”

Earlier this year, ALEA raised the fee for a driver license renewal from $23.50 cost $36.25, which the agency said would cover more of the cost of producing the license. Collier said that was an effort to be proactive on funding ALEA services, but the Legislature reduced ALEA’s budget by the amount the fee increase is expected to bring in.

So yeah, technically it only affects those going for a driving test, which is usually only for first-timers. As in, younger voters, who are more likely to vote for Democratic candidates.

And notice what I bolded…they raised the cost of this essential government ID by over 50%, which is a big jump in general, but then (just like state lotteries and school budgets) the legislative response was to dock the budget by that amount so there was no increase in revenue, just an increase in cost to the individual citizen.

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Yes, but then it’s no longer a voting issue.

True, but still a civil rights issue. Death by a thousand cuts, and all that.

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What kind of free goverment-issued photo ID can be had over there?

Requiring people to spend money in order to vote would seem to be contrary to the stated goals of the states.

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I guess that they are issuing a free voter ID. I guess that they even waive the fee for supporting documents like a certified birth certificate. I need to update the OP…
The DMV locations can still renew drivers licenses and issue ID cards as well.

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Is it easy? In order to register to vote in the Scottish devolution referendum, the toughest thing I had to do was make sure my signature was within a bounding box. I still had to fill out the damn form three times. :smile:

My signature’s a wee bit slapdash.

Anyway, I posted it through the mail but later found out I could have handed it in to the council office in person if time was a factor. Took me about 15 minutes in total and all I needed to know was my National Insurance number, no proof or other documents required. And I see there’s an online option now, which promises to blitz you through in 5 minutes.

I guess people are queueing up to commit voter fraud in Alabama, eh?

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There, FIFY!

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Alabama state authority fails to recognise any difference between those two sentences, apparently.

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Good question. Hopefully, Kim Davis doesn’t have any relatives clerking down there…

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Please don’t construe this as a defense of Alabama. It sucks. I live here; I know. This is fall-out from a long budget battle in which the governor, a Republican, was actually trying to increase taxes and generate revenue to zero-level fund all state needs. He got a huge fight from his own party and from Democrats. The Democrats wanted to have a state lottery… The thing we most need–taxes on corporations, larger property taxes, a less regressive income tax–either didn’t come up or came up briefly to be shot down in flames. This driver’s license thing, as far as I can tell, is a desperate measure unconnected to Alabama’s tendency toward voter suppression. From the perspective of the (entire, D & R) legislature, I think it’s just a “happy accident.” They’re also going to be shutting down state parks, liquor stores (you buy from the Alcoholic Beverage Commission here), and many other state offices. Won’t be defunding any prisons though! Hooray.

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