Merrill has been one of the strongest proponents of Alabama’s controversial voter ID law, despite an apparent lack of evidence of in-person voter fraud. The measure, which went into effect in 2013, has already disenfranchised hundreds of otherwise eligible voters who could not produce valid photo identification.

Critics note that these sorts of barriers to voting disproportionately affect poor individuals and people of color, who have less access to facilities that issue ID cards. The intended effect, they allege, is to suppress voters in a way that benefits Republican political candidates. But supporters of voter ID and other voting or registration restrictions claim that they’re well-intended efforts to protect the integrity of elections.

John Bennett, Merrill’s deputy chief of staff, pushed back against criticism Wednesday, telling The Huffington Post that his boss has shown a commitment to giving every eligible voter the opportunity to cast a ballot. “We’ve gotten the largest number of [newly] registered voters in state history ― which is 584,252 ― so it’s not that we aren’t living up to what the Constitution guarantees to each and every American,” he said.

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