MONTGOMERY– Secretary of State John Merrill issues a statement on the voter registration lawsuit filed in Federal Court today against the state of Alabama.
Here is Secretary Merrill’s statement:
“The lawsuit filed today claims that the
Secretary of State John H. Merrill
photo ID requirement is an impediment to voting in our state. Empirical data would indicate that the photo ID requirement is in no way a barrier or obstacle to voting,” said Secretary Merrill. “The photo ID requirement was designed to preserve the credibility and the integrity of the electoral process. I voted for and was a co-sponsor of House Bill 19 that became Act Number 2011-673 in 2011, and I will defend the rights and freedoms of all our eligible citizens to register to vote, obtain a qualified photo voter ID, and participate in the electoral process!”
“In the office of the Secretary of State, we want to make it real easy to vote and real hard to cheat. As of today, there have been no credible reports of a lack of ability for someone to cast their vote because of this law. We are going to continue to register all eligible Alabamians to vote, we are going to abide by the photo ID law passed by the Alabama Legislature, and we are going to issue qualified government photo IDs to preserve voting integrity as long as I have the privilege to serve our citizens in this capacity!”
Lawyers from the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF), and Covington & Burling, LLP, along with Alabama attorney Ed Still have filed a federal lawsuit challenging Alabama’s photo voter ID law. The lawsuit was brought on behalf of Greater Birmingham Ministries and the Alabama NAACP.
The complaint alleges that Alabama enacted a photo ID law that the State’s own initial analysis showed would disfranchise over a quarter of a million registered voters, a disproportionate number of whom are Black and Latino, in violation of the U.S. Constitution and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
The photo ID law is one of three intentionally discriminatory measures passed by the 2011-12 Alabama Legislature. The other two — the State’s legislative redistricting plans and House Bill 56 — have already been successfully challenged in federal court. The lawsuit also comes shortly after Alabama’s decision to largely close 31 DMV offices, which has made it much more difficult for Black and Latino voters to get driver’s licenses, the most common form of photo ID.
