"On the civil rights front, we see renewed attacks on voting rights across the nation. This year alone [2014], there were 83 initiatives in 29 states to limit access to the ballot box in the name of preventing corruption where no corruption was found. In the name of preventing widespread fraud where none was occuring. States like Wisconsin, which passed a voter ID law in the name of combatting voter impersonation. That was the rationale. According to the federal court, the state, and I quote, 'could not point to a single instance of known voter impersonation occuring in Wisconsin at any time in the recent past.' Or, in my native state of Pennsylvania, where a state court judge ruled that the state 'wholly failed to show any evidence of in-person voter fraud.' But the fiction of widespread voter fraud continues to persist. Because, without it, no American worth their salt could ever defend these new laws in limiting the franchise."

Source: CBS News, "Joe Biden: Voter ID Laws Aim to 'Repress Minority Turnout,'" cbsnews.com, July 24, 2014

"America is currently in the midst of a new wave of disenfranchisement. Since 2000, the number of states requiring voter ID has increased from 14 to 33. A 2013 Supreme Court decision struck down provisions of the 1965 Voting Rights Act that required pre-clearance by the federal government of changes to election laws in jurisdictions that had historically disenfranchised blacks and other people of color. In the wake of that decision, 17 states adopted laws requiring stricter voter ID requirements. Most of these laws require government-issued photo ID, which often requires a birth certificate to obtain. The time and cost of obtaining these documents discourages low-income people from registering to vote... Obviously, the fight against onerous voter ID laws must continue."

Source: Howie Hawkins, "Voter Disenfranchisement Is a Working Class Issue," peacecouncil.net, Sep/Oct. 2016