JACKSON, Miss. — There’s another push to keep you from having to show your ID to vote.
The Mississippi Legislative Black Caucus has sent a letter to the U.S. Justice Department asking that it block the roll out of the state’s current version of a Voter ID law. “Certainly with information that we recently received from the Secretary of State’s office that there are 360,000 Mississippians who are in need of voter ID, but only 100 have been issued. This is very troubling,” said Caucus member Senator Derrick T. Simmons, D-Greenville.
“And as members of the Black Caucus, we certainly feel that the Voter ID law would adversely affect Mississippi’s most vulnerable population, mainly the elderly, minorities and the disabled.”
Simmons said the Caucus has also received unofficial reports from some circuit clerks that the waiting period for free voter IDs, after they have been requested, is anywhere between 2-3 weeks. “And there is no educational piece in place yet. So by the June primary election, people will try to rush to get an ID and during that waiting period, the election will be over; and they didn’t get to exercise their fundamental right to vote.”
So far, the Justice Department has not said when it might make a decision.
