BlackBox Radio reported last week that the Michigan Supreme Court has made a decision to revisit a law that would require all voters to present a photo ID at the polls before they could cast a ballot. The law was originally introduced in 1996 under Governor John Engler, but was never implemented because Attorney General Frank Kelly ruled the law unconstitutional. At the time, Kelly also ruled that it violated the first and fourteenth amendments of the Constitution guaranteeing equal protection.
The NAACP, the Michigan Legislative Black Caucus and the Michigan Democratic Party have come out as strong opponents to the law, charging that it discriminates against Blacks, poor people, and non-drivers. Many citizens do not have a photo ID because they don’t drive or can’t afford to get one.
According to the NAACP, almost 400,000 of the state’s 7 million registered voters have no ID. African Americans make up 18 percent of that figure, compared to 10% for whites. Twenty-five percent of women over the age of 65 have no driver’s license.
The head of the Detroit NAACP told the Michigan Citizen that asking for photo identification would increase voter intimidation at the polls and send a signal that, “it is open season on harassing voters at the polls.”
The court could rule on the implementation of the law before the November election. Critics have called it an orchestrated campaign to decrease minority voting during an election year.
