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
“So All Can Vote"
Fifty years ago on June 21, three 1964 Freedom Summer activists – Andrew Goodman, James Chaney and Michael Schwerner – were murdered by the KKK in Mississippi for registering African-Americans to vote.
That’s why Bend the Arc: A Jewish Partnership for Justice in partnership with The Andrew Goodman Foundation and The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights held a candlelight vigil on the National Mall this past Tuesday evening.
Yarzheit candles were lit in memory of these men who were instrumental in the passing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which banned voting discrimination. It has been one year since the SCOTUS deemed part of that same Voting Rights Act unconstitutional, meaning that states can enact new voting restrictions without federal approval.
People of all different ages, religions and races around Washington D.C. gathered in front of the Lincoln Memorial to spell out “So All Can Vote” with candles to remember these three men giving their lives so future generations could help shape our nation.
Rock the Vote was happy to participate at the vigil and celebrate the bravery these men possessed. Rock the Vote is currently partners with The Andrew Goodman Foundation. Click here to learn more about the important work this organization is doing.
Engraved on the National Archives Building in Washington, D.C. is the phrase “What’s Past Is Prologue,” lifted from Shakespeare’s play The Tempest. While it is sometimes easier, and certainly more encouraging, to focus on the future of voting rights in the U.S., this engraving serves as a reminder that we must learn from the mistakes of the past to set the context for the present.
If you weren’t paying attention (and we can’t blame you—not everyone is as obsessed with this stuff as we are), today marks the anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision on Shelby v. Holder – a landmark voting rights case that has had some serious implications over the past year.
Let’s take a step back. In 1964, civil rights activists launched a grassroots campaign to register minority voters in the south in what became known as Freedom Summer. When volunteers were met with violence, national outrage sparked a movement in Washington to protect voting rights for minorities, resulting in the 1965 Voting Rights Act (VRA).
The law basically prohibits states from passing discriminatory voting laws and keeps an eye on states with a history of discrimination. These states have to get preclearance from the Justice Department before they pass any new voting laws to ensure that there are no discriminatory effects. The law needs to be re-authorized every ten years, but has never faced any problems… until last year.
Shelby County, Alabama, wasn’t happy with the Department of Justice looking over its shoulder, and took its case to the Supreme Court. In a 5-4 decision last June, the Court struck down a portion of the VRA, a shining monument to the Civil Rights movement, which received support from a near unanimous Congress in 2006. As of today, no state, even those with a history of discriminatory election practices, must obtain preclearance before changing their election laws and policies.
There has been a little bit of a tug of war since then. On one side, you have people like Congressmen Sensenbrenner, Conyers, and Leahy, who proposed the Voting Rights Amendment Act to fix the gaping hole in the Voting Rights Act after the Shelby case. On the other, you have states like Texas and North Carolina that jumped on the opportunity to pass new, restrictive voting laws in the absence of federal oversight.
But as Shakespeare says, what’s past is prologue. The messy history of discrimination and disenfranchisement in the U.S. has to come to an end at some point, and we have a pretty optimistic view of the future.
One of the strongest barriers to voting in the U.S. is registration. Most states require you to register to vote at least three weeks before the election, and each state has its own rules and deadlines. These rules are constantly changing and it’s a huge challenge to stay on top of these updates. Over the past 25 years, Rock the Vote has been making noise at music festivals and on TV, and we’ve registered more than 6 million voters. But there’s never an end: every year, 12% of people in the U.S. move to a new residence. Every day, nearly 12,000 people turn 18. We’ve been running full speed ahead just trying to keep up.
Fortunately, there are some people who are working to make voting easier.
On Sunday, Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York announced a new bill to require states to implement online voter registration. So far, 20 states use online voter registration, three have limited online registration in place, and four have online voter registration on the way. This bill would bring the remaining 23 online so that anyone in the United States could register to vote from a phone, tablet, or computer.
Not bad.
At a press conference on Sunday, Sen Gillbrand said, “If a bank can figure out how to allow you to do your baking online, we can figure out how to register to vote online.” That sounds like reasonable logic to us. This is the kind of change that would have a lasting impact on voting in the U.S.—particularly for web-native Millennials. We can’t help but get excited.
On the other side of the aisle, Republican Senator Rand Paul announced this week that he is introducing a bill to restore voting rights to nonviolent felons in federal elections. It is old news that our prison population has a disproportionate number of minorities—many of whom are convicted for minor offenses. As Paul said, “Some of the leaders in the African-American community … can’t vote. It is something that is consistent with my religious beliefs as well as my lawmaking that you should get a second chance.”
We’ve come a long way since 1964, when civil rights workers were killed trying to register black voters, but we still have a lot to learn from the past. The Carnegie Foundation of New York just launched a campaign this summer called Freedom Now to commemorate the lives lost in the fight for voting rights 50 years ago.
While there is certainly cause for optimism in the fight for voting rights, we would be amiss to march forward without recognizing or appreciating the groundwork that thousands of activists laid before us. As Shakespeare said, “What’s Past Is Prologue.” It’s up to us to write the next chapter.