Mark Braboy
Associate Editor
Part 2: Voting Rights 50 years later – As America remembers the 1965 march from Selma to Montgomery, Ala. that helped secure the passage of the
Voting Rights Act, students and citizens in this series of stories on voting, discuss if recent challenges and legislations are making it
more difficult for some demographics to vote 50 years after the historic legislation.
Voter ID legislations across the country have many students at Jackson State University discussing if attempts are being made to suppress the African-American vote.
“I feel like the voter ID laws that are now being passed in Mississippi are put in place for African-Americans. It reminds us of what we have to overcome and its voter suppression all over again,” said Jasmine McCloud, a senior mass communications major from Flowood, Miss.
Elizabeth Lewis, a senior English major from Newton, Miss. said, “I feel it is making it difficult. No one should have to go through that process if you are a citizen and old enough.
In Mississippi, there is a wide array of identifications that can be used as ID to vote, such as government issued IDs, social security cards, gun licenses, expired IDs that are no more than 10 years old, and college issued IDs.
In places like Tennessee, voters must show a government issued license only, unless they are voting on an absentee ballot, hospitalized, or have religious restrictions.
Reverend A. Faye London, a grassroots organizer and reproductive rights advocate from Memphis, Tenn., believes that the motivation for the voter ID laws is to exclude the people who are less likely to vote conservative.
“We have a largely conservatively controlled federal government and in a whole lot of states we have a fight on our hands or conservative control where they have already started redrawing districts to make certain that voting patterns will be such that they will always be the majority in every district,” said London.
However, some believe that the legislations do not make it difficult to vote.
“I don’t think it is. Typically you would need ID for other things, so this is no different to me,” said Dynasti Dixon, a freshman biology major from Jackson, Miss.
Brandalyn Green, a freshman elementary education major from Jackson, Miss. agrees.
“Everyone should at least have some form of identification whether elderly or adolescent. If the person wants their vote to be counted, they should have to follow the rules. It’s not that hard to get the proper identification to vote,” said Green.
Diante Rogers believes using ID’s will limit voter fraud.
“I feel as if it’s more of a hassle, but at the same time, it’s very protective. The government needs to know who is voting so there’s no fraud involved,” said Rogers, a sophomore biology major from Manhattan, N.Y.
Many different organizations across the country are demanding legislations to fully restore the Voting Rights Act.
Tyson Jackson, Lead Organizer for Mississippi Alliance of State Employees (M.A.S.E) believes that action is important in the midst of this “all out war.”
“When we get to a point where we actually are getting people in office that think like us, not only look like us, but think like us, when they get into office and be able to think like the people, then we’ll start to change something,” said Jackson.
Voter ID cards can be obtained at any Circuit Clerk’s office in Mississippi and mailed to your location. If you are a registered voter, go to http://www.msvoterid.ms.gov for more information.
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