“All 67 counties in Alabama have a Board of Registrars that issue photo voter I.D. cards. If for some reason those citizens are not able to make it to the Board of Registrars, we'll bring our mobile I.D. van and crew to that county," the statement said. "By October 31 our office will have brought the mobile I.D. van to every county in Alabama at least once. One of the most fundamental rights we as Americans are afforded is our right to vote. As Alabama’s Secretary of State and Chief Elections Official, I will do everything within my power to ensure every Alabamian is able to exercise their right to vote.”

﻿ Approximately 250,000 registered voters in Alabama don’t have a driver’s license or acceptable form of voter ID. In the last election, a 93-year-old World War II veteran was turned away from the polls because of the new [voter ID] law. Only 41 percent of Alabamans voted in the 2014 election, the lowest turnout in the state in 28 years.

Alabama officials are defending the closure of 31 driver's license offices in this state that requires voters to present a picture ID. Those 31 offices to be closed include eight out of 10 of the counties with the greatest percentage of non-white voters, on top of the disparate racial impact voter ID laws have to begin with. But Secretary of State John Merrill says not to worry So if you really, really want to vote, you can make a special trip to the registrar's office to get a special ID card for that purpose. It's tough to see this as a replacement for accessible driver's license offices (and by the way, Alabama recently raised the fee for a driver's license by 54 percent). And Alabama is not a state that needs extra barriers to voting. As Ari Berman writes Lowest turnout in 28 years? Mission accomplished, then.