Tiffany Edmondson
Blue & White Flash / Associate Editor
In 1965, a national legislative landmark changed the scope of American politics by ending the tactics of racial injustices that minorities experienced while trying to register to vote. The passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 banned discriminatory voting practices that contributed to the disenfranchisement of African-American citizens, specifically in the Deep South.
In Nov. of 2011, during a general election, Mississippi voters went to the polls to vote on Initiative 27-Voter Identification.
The Initiative 27 question on the ballot read “Should the Mississippi Constitution be amended to require a person to submit government issued photo identification?” Votes from the ballot box resulted in an approval of a state amendment that will require voters to present photo identification before casting their ballot.
Even though the voter ID passed within the state, it still has to gain final approval from the United States Department of Justice. So far, 8 states have passed voter ID laws on the state level but as of now, a few of those state laws were denied by DOJ.
Regardless of the intentions of Initiative 27, Mississippi voters should be aware that no type of photo identification will be required for the upcoming general election on Nov. 6.
According to Hinds County district 5 election commissioner Lelia Gaston-Rhodes, only first time mail-in registrants are required to show some sort of identification.
Those Mississippians opposed to Initiative 27 expressed outrage that the amendment could pose as a present day disenfranchisement to the people who would be most affected by it, senior citizens, racial and ethnic minorities, and low income residents.
Secretary of the State Delbert Hosemann and other supporters of the initiative think that implementing this law will help prevent voter fraud. The opposition believes that the law serves as a barrier to prevent and discourage voter participation.
To give you an idea of what districts heavily weighed in on the votes, statements from Julia Hodges on a transcript from an Initiative 27 public hearing held in Pearl, Miss in July of 2011 indicated that the Gulf Coast and Delta districts together contributed to 45,000 of the 130,000 signatures that were gathered statewide in order to have the initiative placed on the ballot.
Gaston-Rhodes, who served as Jackson State University’s Dean of Library for 40 years and as Alumni Association President, can be credited for writing the first 100 years of the history of JSU.
She also has the distinction of being the first manager of JSU’s voting precinct 49 during the late 1980’s.
Precinct 49 was created specifically for the administration, faculty members and students that lived on campus. Currently there are 2,395 registered voters listed on the roll. Students who registered to vote before the deadline names will appear on the rolls on Nov. 6.
There is a backlog of entering information into the system which may have delayed the receipt of the voter registration cards for some, but students will be allowed to vote, according to a representative at the Hinds County Circuit Clerks Office. To check and make sure your name is on the ballot, call 601-968-6640.
Some JSU students feel that the voter ID law should not be approved by the Justice Department. Some Mississippians are hoping that Initiative 27 will be struck down by the DOJ as well.
“I don’t think that it should be used because in the Black community, there are a lot of older people who don’t have IDs. They’re able to do everything they need to do without having IDs and it would be a little inconvenient for them to receive their IDs and it would cancel out a lot of the older people’s votes,” said Gregory Lane, a sophomore mass communications major from Meridian, Miss.
Lane added, “I think it’s just a way to limit the vote of the Black community. If they’re registered voters, I don’t believe that’s a reason why they shouldn’t be able to vote.”
Anthony Woodberry, a senior political science major from Vaughn, Miss., agreed.
“Really, I think the voter ID laws are an attempt by the conservative base to re-establish things like the poll taxes, and Jim Crow laws pretty much. They know that the only people that would have a problem getting voter IDs are the people of the low income category.”
He added, “The voter ID debate that’s going on is really between the haves and the have nots. The haves are saying that it shouldn’t be a problem for a people to get an ID but the have nots are saying that shouldn’t be a requirement for you to vote. Because anything that hinders your vote is an infringement against your constitutional rights.”
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