Bernie Sanders on the campaign trail.

Bernie Sanders on the campaign trail.

The state of Alabama recently announced plans to close 45 driver's license offices , leaving only four offices open in the entire state. Alabama has some of the strictest voter identification laws in the country and needless to say, it could have a huge impact voters who may not be able to drive long distances for a valid identification.

The move has been widely criticized by Democrats nationwide, but Bernie Sanders just took it to the next level:



"Republican cowards all across the country, including Alabama, are very clearly trying to win elections by suppressing the vote and making it harder for low-income people, minorities, young people and seniors to vote. That has to change. Anyone 18 years of age or older should be automatically registered to vote," Sanders said in a statement he tweeted Sunday.

In a speech in August, Sanders some Republican backed laws are purported to combat voter fraud but are really intended to disenfranchise voters. "Anybody who is suppressing the vote, anybody who is intentionally trying to keep people from voting because the candidate knows that those people would vote against him or her, that person is a political coward," Sanders said during a speech in August. "If you don't have the guts to run for office on your ideas, then you shouldn't run for office at all."

Clinton slammed Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley (R) for closing 31 driver-licensing offices in rural, mostly black areas, eliminating a source for the ­government-issued photo ID that is now required to vote in Alabama. “This is wrong,” Clinton said. “Fifty years after Rosa Parks sat and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. marched and John Lewis bled, it is hard to believe that we are back having this same debate” about voting rights for black Americans.

His comments reinforce the message he's been sending for months:Hillary Clinton has also blasted Republicans over voter suppression efforts: On the other side of the country, Oregon and California taken huge steps forward to encourage voting participation with new automatic voter registration laws. Republican efforts to discourage people from getting to the polls must be stopped. Regardless of who gets the Democratic nomination in 2016, it's clear that a nationwide automatic voter registration effort is something both candidates should put at the forefront of their campaigns.