Green Party leaders said that the closing of 31 driver’s license offices in Alabama, hindering Black residents from obtaining the identification necessary to vote, proves the need for full restoration of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 as well as other election reforms.

“The government of Alabama made the case for Voting Rights Act when it shut down 31 driver’s license offices, mostly in counties with Black majority populations,” said Thomas Muhammad, co-chair of the Green Party Black Caucus and executive board member of the National Voting Rights Museum and Institute located at the foot of the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama.

“Alabama’s restrictive ID law was a blatant attempt to obstruct Blacks from voting. States are still vulnerable to the kind of abuses that the Voting Rights Act is designed to correct,” said Mr. Muhammad.

Greens said that Alabama’s combination of voter ID laws and obstruction of Black voter registration are only the most recent and conspicuous assault on fair and democratic elections.

“Voter ID laws are one of several ways in which Republicans – and also Democrats – manipulate elections,” said Shamako Noble, Green candidate for the U.S. Senate in California. “Another way is gerrymandering by both parties’ lawmakers, especially by Republicans in 2011 to give them virtually permanent control over seats in statehouses and Congress. Democrats and Republicans have conspired to pass ballot-access laws that privilege their own candidates and hinder third parties and independents.”

Greens call for public funding of campaigns and legislation to overturn court rulings that confer “personhood” on corporations, most recently, Citizens United v. FEC, 2010. Greens call such measures necessary to abolish plutocratic control of government by powerful businesses and the wealthy (see http://MoveToAmend.org). Move To Amend

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Read Press Release: http://www.gp.org/restore_the_voting_rights_act