By Terri Sewell
Sewell is a Selma native and U.S. Representative for Alabama’s 7th Congressional District. 

The voices of our most vulnerable citizens have been further silenced by the decision to close 31 driver’s license offices across Alabama. Under Alabama’s voter ID law, only a handful of photo identification can be used at polling places, and the state-issued driver’s license is the most popular form of identification presented. To limit access to obtaining a driver’s license — while insisting on a photo ID to vote — is an unconscionable and overt barrier to voting.

Twenty-nine counties in Alabama will have no driver’s license offices, of which 15 of those counties are located in the rural parts of the Black Belt. This fact means many of my constituents who have limited modes of transportation will be denied an equal opportunity to obtain a means to vote. To restrict the ability of any Alabamian to vote is an assault on the rights of all Alabamians to equally participate in the electoral process.

When the state of Alabama started requiring a photo ID to vote in 2014, officials claimed it would reduce voter fraud. The reality is that voter fraud is rare, and the net result of the Alabama photo ID law has been to restrict equal access to ballot box for low-income, senior and disabled citizens.

The closure decision combined with the voter ID law is eerily reminiscent of past discriminatory practices such as poll taxes and literacy tests that restricted the black vote. I seriously question the judgement behind the closing driver’s license offices in the most vulnerable communities.

The state of Alabama should either rescind its requirement for voter IDs at the polling place or allow these offices to stay open. I am calling on Alabama lawmakers to reverse this ill-conceived decision and to rescind the voter ID law. As elected officials, we should be encouraging citizens to vote, not creating barriers that limit access to the ballot box. We should restore the vote, rather than restrict it.