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But when she returned to her polling place on Tuesday to vote in Alabama鈥檚 special election, poll workers told her she was 鈥渋nactive.鈥�

鈥淭hat makes no sense,鈥� Jiles.

The African-American woman had always voted at the First Assembly of God.

Jiles ThinkProgress鈥� Kira Lerner that it would be a 鈥渄ishonor to her family鈥� not to vote. Her parents, she said, grew up two blocks from the historic 16th Street Baptist Church, a rallying point for civil rights activists during the Birmingham Children鈥檚 Crusade of 1963. And it was the scene of one of the era鈥檚 most heinous acts of terror when Klansmen set off a powerful bomb on a Sunday morning 鈥� killing four little girls 鈥� in September of that year.

In fact, Doug Jones, the winner in Tuesday鈥檚 Alabama Senate election, successfully prosecuted two of the Klansmen nearly 40 years after the bombing.

But on Tuesday, workers told Jiles that she could only cast a 鈥減rovisional鈥� ballot, one that would not be counted unless she drove to another precinct to update her information. Six other voters, Jiles told Lerner, were told the same thing.

"It鈥檚 not that we鈥檙e not showing up to vote 鈥� we鈥檙e being suppressed,鈥� Jiles.

We were concerned going into the special election that Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill鈥檚 decision to a month before the August primary 鈥� and his recent threat about 鈥� would have a chilling effect on turnout.

Merrill said he was updating the voter rolls to reflect address changes.

But black voters in Alabama are right to be suspicious. The state has a long history of making it harder for them to cast their ballot. Dorothy Guilford, now 97, remembers taking a literacy test to become eligible and standing in long lines to pay her poll tax.

鈥淣ow that, I think, discouraged a lot of people, the long lines, because so many had to go back to work,鈥� Guilford said.

The Voting Rights Act put an end to such overtly discriminatory measures, but the Supreme Court鈥檚 decision in 2013 to gut key provisions of the Act opened the door to new forms of discrimination.

In January of this year, the U.S. Department of Transportation concluded that Alabama 鈥� which requires a photo ID to vote 鈥� disproportionately in 2015 when it closed 31 driver鈥檚 license offices, including offices in eight of the 10 counties with the highest proportion of black residents.

鈥淎ll you had to do was look at a map to see it,鈥� AL.com鈥檚 Kyle Whitmore.

Thanks to the federal probe, some of the offices have since . But it wasn鈥檛 the last attack by an Alabama lawmaker on the right to vote.

Just before last year鈥檚 presidential election, Merrill criticized automatic voter registration as the 鈥渟orry and lazy way out,鈥� claiming that 鈥渏ust because you turned 18 doesn鈥檛 give you the right to do anything.鈥�

Merrill鈥檚 comments were not only ignorant 鈥� the 26th Amendment gives citizens who turn 18 precisely the right to vote 鈥� but part and parcel of a broader campaign to suppress minority voters.

We鈥檝e seen it in President Trump鈥檚 unfounded claims of widespread voter fraud, in lawmakers鈥� purges of voter rolls, in for out-of-date voter rolls, and in .

We saw it in Alabama on Tuesday, when reported , at the polls, and telling them that their polling locations had changed.

鈥淚t鈥檚 important for everybody to be able to vote and let their choice be known,鈥� Dorothy Guilford told the 澳彩开奖 shortly after the VRA was abolished.

Without its protections, systematic voter suppression 鈥� not voter fraud 鈥� is the real cause for concern.

The Editors.

P.S. Here are some other pieces we think are valuable this week: