Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) had an op-ed in the New York Times on Friday in which he condemns the move in a number of states to require photo identification be presented when voting, calling it an unconstitutional poll tax. Rep. Lewis tries to make his case by conveniently omitting some crucial facts and getting others completely wrong.

“Despite decades of progress, this year’s Republican-backed wave of voting restrictions has demonstrated that the fundamental right to vote is still subject to partisan manipulation. The most common new requirement, that citizens obtain and display unexpired government-issued photo identification before entering the voting booth, was advanced in 35 states and passed by Republican legislatures in Alabama, Minnesota, Missouri and nine other states despite the fact that as many as 25 percent of African-Americans lack acceptable identification.”

Let’s take the states he mentioned one at a time and see what the truth is.

Alabama – A bill passed this year would require […] → Keep reading