If you only watch one video this week, make it this one. Madison Kimrey, a 12-year-old from North Carolina, is already a force to be reckoned with, and she hasn’t even started high school.
She speaks out against North Carolina’s new voter identification law, which are currently under investigation by the Department of Justice. Supporters claim the law is an important step against voter fraud, but opponents believe the voter ID law’s real objective is to suppress voter turnout, especially in these three left-leaning demographics:
Minorities
In North Carolina, African Americans make up 23% of registered voters, but they are 34% of voters without photo ID. Clearly, a law requiring all voters to provide photo ID would disproportionately affect African Americans. The new bill also reduces North Carolina’s early voting period from 17 days to 10. Early voting is an appealing option for those who work long and inflexible hours, because it offers an opportunity to cast a ballot on your own schedule. Considering African Americans were more likely to cast an early ballot than vote on election day in 2012, it’s clear who this change will hit the hardest.
Women
Like African Americans, women are also disproportionately likely to be registered to vote without a photo ID. Of the state’s ID-less voters, 63% are women, and 43% of those are women of color.
Women are also likely to run into trouble if they’ve recently changed their names (which, of course, isn’t a problem men encounter quite as often). If the photo ID that they provide at the polls doesn’t match the name on their voter registration, it’s unclear whether they will be permitted to vote. In Texas, women whose documents don’t match are given the opportunity to sign an affidavit to confirm their identity. In North Carolina, as of right now, there is no system in place.
Young Adults
Before Bill 589 was passed, 16- and 17-year-olds could preregister to vote, which they would often do in their high school civics classes or while at the DMV for their driver’s license. The new law cancelled that program, so North Carolina’s teenagers will be forced to register to vote the old fashioned way (that is, by filling out some forms once they turn 18…but teenagers aren’t notoriously good at government paperwork).
This portion of the law doesn’t even have a tangential relationship with voter fraud, but the preregistration program was called “confusing to teenagers” and “a bureaucratic burden.” Or, alternatively, it’s a plot to reduce the number of voting young adults. Madison Kimrey isn’t having any of it.
Please, please let this girl run for office someday. Kimrey 2036!
People from NC are the best people