How Voter ID Blocks Legitimate Voters

In 2008, as the state of Missouri was poised to adopt a constitutional amendment to require documentary proof of citizenship of every person wishing to register to vote in the state, the New York Times and other media outlets reported on the story of Lillie Lewis. The 78-year old Ms. Lewis, an African American Missourian, was born in Mississippi and had voted in every presidential election she could remember but had no documentary evidence of her U.S. citizenship. As the Missouri amendment was being debated, she wrote to the vital records office in Mississippi seeking a copy of her birth certificate. In response, she received a letter stating that the state had no record of her birth. After decades of voting, she effectively became a non-citizen, excluded from engaging in the voting process that defines a democracy.

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