Alabama Congresswoman Asks DOJ To Investigate DMV Closures

UNITED STATES - JUNE 24: Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Ala., speaks during a news conference in the Capitol to introduce the Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2015, June 24, 2015. (Photo By Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call) (CQ Roll ... UNITED STATES - JUNE 24: Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Ala., speaks during a news conference in the Capitol to introduce the Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2015, June 24, 2015. (Photo By Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call) (CQ Roll Call via AP Images) MORE LESS
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The U.S. House member representing Alabama’s only majority minority district district has requested that the Department of Justice investigate the closure of 31 driver’s licenses offices in the state as a possible violation of her constituents’ constitutional right to vote.

Rep. Terri Sewell (D-AL) released a letter Monday to Attorney General Loretta Lynch asking the department to investigate the closures in a state which requires government-issued photo IDs to vote. Eight of the 14 counties in Sewell’s district will be without a DMV, the letter said.

“Despite a budgetary pretext, the consequence of this decision is to deny the most vulnerable in Alabama an equal opportunity to obtain a means to vote,” Sewell wrote. “These closures will potentially disenfranchise Alabama’s poor, elderly, disabled and black communities.”

The closures, announced last week, drew a firestorm of criticism — including from Hillary Clinton, who called them “a blast from the Jim Crow past” — out of concerns that it will be that much harder for poor and minority citizens to meet the requirements for the state’s tough voter ID law.

Alabama officials have continued to defend the voter ID law and say those without driver’s licenses or the handful of other approved forms can obtain free state issued ID from local boards of registrar.

Read the full letter below:

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Notable Replies

  1. You can’t fight city hall.

  2. I hope hate mail is a thing she enjoys.

  3. The U.S. House member representing Alabama’s only majority minority district district has requested that the Department of Justice investigate the closure of 31 driver’s licenses offices in the state as a possible violation of her constituents’ constitutional right to vote.

    Damn straight!

  4. Wow, that was fast. Great news. A quite straightforward letter, well thought out and written. Gotta believe the DOJ will jump on this immediately and start subpoenaing Republican House and Senate leaders, the Attorney General, the senior staff of the relevant department and I do hope the governor too.

    Interesting too if they corral all the e-mails, letters, and any oral testimony from legislators that drafted and voted for this bill. Gee, if they can go after Hillary for the same things, turnabout is fair play, eh?

    And one just has to know there is damning evidence of exactly what they were trying to achieve: suppress black and democratic voters!

  5. As Caucasians trend towards eventually minority status in the populace their efforts at staving off inevitable loss of power will result in more actions like these DMV closures, not less. Put 20 guys in a ring, 10 to a side, and tell them to fight. Fisticuffs ensue. Now, put 15 in the ring, 5 against 10. Those 5 are going to be a helluva lot more desperate and nasty in their efforts knowing they’re at a numerical disadvantage. The more dire your circumstances the more extreme your instinct and methods employed to survive. And the circumstances of Caucasian dominance of U.S politics will approach dire over the next generation. At least from their point of view.

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