Congressman John Lewis was beaten in 1965 as he marched for Civil Rights in Selma, Alabama. This week he had a message for Americans as the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial opened in Washington: the struggle for voting rights is far from over. Highlights the Congressman’s New York Times editorial, “A Poll Tax by Another Name,” are below.

Since January, a majority of state legislatures have passed or considered election-law changes that, taken together, constitute the most concerted effort to restrict the right to vote since before the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

[snip]

Having fought for voting rights as a student, I am especially troubled that these laws disproportionately affect young voters. Students at state universities in Wisconsin cannot vote using their current IDs (because the new law requires the cards to have signatures, which those do not). South Carolina prohibits the use of student IDs altogether. Texas also rejects student IDs, but allows voting by those who have a license to carry a concealed handgun. These schemes are clearly crafted to affect not just how we vote, but who votes.

Conservative proponents have argued for photo ID mandates by claiming that widespread voter impersonation exists in America, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. While defending its photo ID law before the Supreme Court, Indiana was unable to cite a single instance of actual voter impersonation at any point in its history. Likewise, in Kansas, there were far more reports of U.F.O. sightings than allegations of voter fraud in the past decade. These theories of systematic fraud are really unfounded fears being exploited to threaten the franchise.

In Georgia, Florida, Ohio and other states, legislatures have significantly reduced opportunities to cast ballots before Election Day — an option that was disproportionately used by African-American voters in 2008. In this case the justification is often fiscal: Republicans in North Carolina attempted to eliminate early voting, claiming it would save money. Fortunately, the effort failed after the State Election Board demonstrated that cuts to early voting would actually be more expensive because new election precincts and additional voting machines would be required to handle the surge of voters on Election Day.

Voters in other states weren’t so lucky. Florida has cut its early voting period by half, from 96 mandated hours over 14 days to a minimum of 48 hours over just eight days, and has severely restricted voter registration drives, prompting the venerable League of Women Voters to cease registering voters in the state altogether. Again, this affects very specific types of voters: according to the nonpartisan Brennan Center for Justice, African-Americans and Latinos were more than twice as likely as white voters to register through a voter registration drive.

These restrictions purportedly apply to all citizens equally. In reality, we know that they will disproportionately burden African Americans and other racial minorities, yet again. They are poll taxes by another name.

Hurricane Irene postponed the dedication ceremony for the memorial, but it hasn’t stopped our commitment to continuing the work started by Dr. King, Congressman Lewis, our co-founder Ambassador Andrew Young and others decades ago. For Congressman Lewis’ complete editorial, click here.

Photo of Martin Luther King Jr., John Lewis, Reverend Jesse Douglas, James Forman and Ralph Abernathy via History Channel.

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This week the long-awaited national memorial to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. opens in Washington. Our group was founded to honor the memory and continue the struggle for voting rights that Dr. King started, by some of the very people he knew and worked with.

The memorial project has been nearly 30 years in the making. The Washington Post is running a special report this week, and as part of it there is a timeline that shows the steps it took to get the monument built.

Our co-founders William Wachtel and Ambassador Andrew Young will be in Washington for the dedication this weekend, and we hope you’ll check back here for updates.

Update: This just in from @MLKMemorial on Twitter — the ceremony has been postponed due to Hurricane Irene.

Dedication Ceremony will be moved to a date not yet determined – Sept. or Oct. 2011. Will announce details as soon as avail. #DedicateMLK

Photo of MLK Memorial via Jacquelyn Martin/AP

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