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Hey, Alabama! Can’t wait to flex your power and vote?

Well (record scratch sound effect) – the state just made things way harder for you.

This week, 31 DMV offices – you know, the places where you can get the most commonly used form of a photo ID: a driver’s license – were closed down across the state.

This is a huge problem, considering the fact that possessing a valid photo ID became a requirement to voting in Alabama last year.

With all the modern advancements being made everyday, voting should be getting easier. NOT more difficult.

Do not be discouraged from voting. We want to help empower you to show up on Election Day.

Here’s some helpful info on acceptable IDs and how you can get one:

First, if you can make your way to an open DMV, you can get a driver’s license, which you can vote with. Here’s the list of open DMVs here.

If you can’t get an Alabama driver’s license or don’t want one, you can use several other types of photo ID to vote, including:

·       a valid passport;

·       a valid state-issued ID (by Alabama or any other state);

·       a valid employee ID from the federal government or from the State of Alabama or any of its counties, municipalities, boards, or other entities of the state;

·       a valid federally issued ID; a valid military ID;

·       a valid Alabama non-driver ID; and a valid tribal ID;

·       a valid student (and campus employee) ID from a public or private college or university in the state of Alabama (including postgraduate technical or professional schools).

If you don’t have any of these IDs, you can apply for a free photo ID from your local county registrars. Important note - make sure you don’t have any of the accepted IDs before applying for a free voter ID! Alabama is very strict on this one – applying for a free ID when you possess another acceptable ID is against the law.

How to get a FREE Alabama Voter Identification Card:

Step 1: Make sure that your voter registration is up to date. In order to get a voter ID card, you must be registered to vote. You can do that through rtvote.com/alabama.

Step 2: Request your Alabama Voter Identification Card by filling out this form (forms are also be available in-person). 

Step 3: Present the form in person, either by bringing it with you or by filling it out in person.

If you’re in the capital area, you can take the form right to the Alabama Secretary of State’s Office State Capitol Building located at: Suite S-105 600 Dexter Avenue Montgomery, Alabama 36103-5616.

If you’re not in Montgomery, head to your county registrar’s office (there’s one in every county). The addresses for the registrars are listed here.

If either of the options above don’t work for you, there will also be a van cruising around the state, issuing free IDs in the next few weeks. Check it out to see if it’s coming to a town near you!

Step 4: To get a free ID, you do need to bring some documentation along with you. You can bring any one of the following documents:

– A photo ID document or a non-photo identity document that contains your full legal name and date of birth; or

–Documentation showing that you are a registered voter (can be verified there onsite or you can bring the form with you and register at the same time); or 

–Documentation showing your name and address as reflected in the state’s voter registration record.

While we must work to make voter registration and casting a vote easier for every American, we cannot be discouraged from taking the steps necessary to participating on Election Day. 

Please let us know if you have any questions by emailing info@rockthevote.com or tweeting us at @RockTheVote

By: Ashley Spillane, president of Rock the Vote

(As seen in the Washington Post)

Earlier this year, North Carolina lawmakers passed a bill aimed at stifling the newfound political muscle of their youngest eligible voters. The package of laws, known as HB 589, stripped away crucial policies that made it easier for young people to cast their ballot and participate in the political process. This week, lawyers have descended on Winston Salem to argue that eliminating these policies may have violated the 26th Amendment, which prohibits age-based voting discrimination.

The programs under attack have been proven to boost youth participation. In 2012, young people in the state were 2.6 times more likely to take advantage of same day registration.  And over a three-year period, 160,000 eligible young people were automatically registered to vote from pre-registration of 16- and 17-year-olds. Now these options are unavailable to the young residents of North Carolina.

Laws like HB 589 are part of a troubling pattern taking hold across the country, triggered by the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn key provisions of the Voting Rights Act, thus allowing Southern states to make changes to their voting laws without securing federal approval. A raft of voter ID laws—designed primarily to suppress turnout of minority voters—are also turning away young people, and often, both at the same time. Millennials are the largest, but also the country’s most diverse generation, with 43 percent identifying as people of color. In all, 22 states have new, restrictive voting laws that will go into effect before the 2014 midterms.

An undisguised attempt to block new immigrants and minority voters, new laws in Kansas and Arizona require voters to present proof of citizenship in order to register to vote in the first place. That means when you’re stopped on the street by a nice kid with a clipboard, you have to have your birth certificate, passport or naturalization documents just lying around in your purse or back pocket. Rock The Vote recently joined other community-registration arms including Voto Latino to sign an amicus brief, arguing that the laws unduly impair efforts to register new voters. It also launched an online petition to spread the word.

In Texas, a handgun license qualifies as proper ID for voting, but state university ID cards do not. In Florida, student unions were rejected by the state as suitable locations for early voting sites. And in Tennessee, employees of public universities are allowed to use their employee IDs to vote; however, students of the same universities are not allowed to use their college IDs.

These developments leave young voters on the defensive, instead of the offensive in the fight to expand voting rights. Our country should be making it more convenient for eligible young people to vote, not less. That means supporting efforts to expand online registration and same-day registration, institute pre-registration of 16- and 17-year-olds, and broaden opportunities for early voting.

Every day, 12,000 Americans turn 18 years old. As country’s fastest growing generation, we comprise a pivotal voting bloc that is growing stronger every day, despite efforts to silence our voices. Efforts to suppress youth turnout aren’t just unconstitutional—they are un-American.