“Alabama’s New Fight for Voting Rights”

Spencer Woodman for Vice:

The recent proliferation of new restrictions has inflected the celebrations in Selma this week with worries of a resurgent era of voter suppression—concerns that have taken on new urgency ahead of the first presidential election since the landmark Shelby decision. And Alabama provides a striking example of post-Shelby uncertainty among civil rights activists.

In the nearly three years since the Shelby decision, the state’s implementation of the voter ID law has been something of a saga. In September 2015, for instance, following a budget cut by the Alabama Legislature, the state ordered the closure of 31 of the Department of Motor Vehicle’s part-time satellite offices, many of which served poor, rural regions. Given that unequal access to state-issued identification cards was their primary argument against the state’s voter ID law, civil rights groups were outraged by the closures, and claimed the move would further limit minority voters’ access to Alabama’s polls.

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