By Terri Sewell
Sewell represents Alabama’s seventh district in Congress.

I fully support the federal lawsuit filed by the Greater Birmingham Ministries and the Alabama NAACP, challenging the photo ID law in our state. I have repeatedly argued that Alabama’s photo ID law is a renewed assault on voting rights. The restrictive law is little more than a solution in search of a problem. The reality is that voter fraud is rare. Requiring a photo ID law to vote has done more harm in limiting voter access to the ballot box than actually exposing incidents of fraud.

The Alabama photo ID law is reminiscent of our Jim Crow past. It restricts the voting rights of more than 250,000 Alabamians who do not have a photo ID. Many of the disenfranchised are African-Americans, low-income individuals, senior citizens and the disabled. There is no denying that requiring a photo ID adds another barrier to voting and thus limits the ability to American citizens to exercise their fundamental right to vote.

I applaud the efforts of the Alabama NAACP and the Greater Birmingham Ministries in challenging Alabama’s photo ID law.

I am a proud Alabamian and acknowledge the progress we have made. Unfortunately, the photo ID law coupled with the DMV closures and the violations to the Motor Voter law further undermines our state’s ability to move beyond our painful past.

I introduced the Voting Rights Advancement Act in June to stop the renewed assault on voting rights, and to restore preclearance for states like Alabama where new barriers to voting threaten to silence the most vulnerable voices in our electorate.

The need for this lawsuit is evidence that Alabama cannot run away from its painful past, and we must vow to never repeat it.

The need for this lawsuit indicates that progress is elusive, and that we must be ever vigilant in our fight to protect the right to vote and honor the sacrifices that were made by the courageous Foot Soldiers of the Voting Rights Movement.