Miss. NAACP supporting public school funding, opposing voter ID
Published 8:21 pm Wednesday, February 13, 2008
The Mississippi Conference of the NAACP is asking legislators to approve full funding for public schools and to kill voter identification bills.
The civil-rights group also wants lawmakers to allow the automatic restoration of voting rights for people who have completed their sentences for certain felonies. Under the current system, someone who has completed a sentence must ask the Legislature to restore suffrage.
State NAACP president Derrick Johnson spoke during a news conference Tuesday at the Capitol.
He said voter ID is a racially divisive issue, and there has been no proof that people are trying to vote under others’ names. Supporters of ID legislation say requiring people to show a driver’s license or other document would protect the integrity of elections.