Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill's Comments on Voter Registration are Cynical, Ignorant
In an with a documentary filmmaker, Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill attacked automatic voter registration as the 鈥渟orry and lazy way out鈥� and cited the sacrifices made by civil rights leaders like Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr., and Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) as a reason not to make voting more accessible to more Americans.
The following statement is from 澳彩开奖 president Richard Cohen:
鈥淪ecretary Merrill鈥檚 statements are as cynical as they are ignorant. Merrill claims that 鈥榡ust because you turned 18 doesn鈥檛 give you the right to do anything.鈥� But he apparently hasn鈥檛 read the 26th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution because it says precisely that every citizen in our great country who turns 18 has the right to vote.
鈥淢errill also bizarrely claims that automatic registration would 'cheapen' the sacrifices that American heroes like John Lewis made for voting rights by making voting too easy. But he apparently doesn鈥檛 realize that Congressman Lewis is in favor of automatic registration.
鈥淢eanwhile, Alabama, according to the nonpartisan , ranks dead last in election performance.
鈥淚nvoking the memory of Congressman Lewis鈥� sacrifices in order to justify the opposite position that Lewis holds is grotesque but in line with Merrill鈥檚 record of supporting voter suppression measures.鈥�
