By Will Sullivan

Guest Columnist 

Until recently, the big gripe with voters is that there were X number of eligible voters in this country but only Y actually registered to vote and even worse, only Z went to the polls.

That changed when one party discovered that too many of those actually registering and voting weren’t voting for the “right people.” When that was discovered, especially with the election of Barack Obama, suddenly the message changed from trying to get more people to the register and go to the polls to trying to block as many of those voters who didn’t vote for the “right people” from voting.

Poll taxes and literacy tests had been outlawed by the courts during the Civil Rights struggle of the 1950s, 60s and 70s. Another roadblock had to be dreamed up and made to sound legitimate. Those who want voters who don’t vote for the “right people” kept from the polls came with voter identification.

The excuse given, proven spurious over and over again, was that some people were registering illegally to vote and others were identifying themselves as people they weren’t in order to vote for candidates who were not the “right people.”

This roadblock must be bridged and two ways to do that is for all of us who refuse to vote for the “right people” to overcome all obstacles, get that absurd “voter ID” and go to the polls every time they open.

Secondly, we must do what my parents did with their children and what Genie and I did with our children – carry them to the polls each time you go, explain to them why you are voting and why it is important for them to vote. That is the only way we can defeat the “forces of darkness” in this country to who want to put as many obstacles as possible in our paths to the polls. Otherwise, we will see a slow insurrection in this country and democracy slowly defeated by those “right people.”

Those who support voter ID say they want everyone to vote, even as they seek to place roadblocks between you and the polls.

A representative from the Mississippi Secretary of State’s office came to a recent Picayune City Council meeting and said that her office wanted all those eligible to vote to be able to vote and repeated that those who need a ride to the Pearl River County Circuit Clerk’s office to get an ID only had to call toll free 1-844 –MSVoter (1-844-678-6837).

A list of the documents that can be used to secure a voter ID can be found on the Secretary of State’s web site or from the Circuit Clerk’s office. The number is 1-601-403-2300. That’s a Poplarville number. There is a Circuit Clerk’s satellite office in Picayune, but there’s no number in the phone book for it, nor is there any information that the documents’ list can be gotten there. From all information given out so far, though, you will have to go to Poplarville for the ID.

Seems there is only one camera in the whole county for voter IDs. All roadblocks possible, you know, to help ensure that only the “right people” are elected.