It was 2016.
I had three pieces of ID on me.
Was not allowed to vote and I was devastated.
I vote every year.
Don't you have a Social Security card too?
Yeah. I had my Social Security card. I had my food stamp card.
I had my to go card with my picture.
That don't make any sense to me.
Everybody can't get no photo ID. That mean they can't vote?
We supposed to move on, not go back
We supposed to be allowed to vote. I don't care what they say.
I speak tonight for the dignity of man and the destiny of democracy.
This bill will strike down
restrictions to voting in all elections.
Each of us has a moral responsibility
if we are a voting age to participate in that decision.
Young people are fired up about the 2008 election.
A historic turnout among the nation's largest minority voting group.
11 o'clock on the East Coast, we can report history.
Barack Obama is projected to be the next president of the United States of America.
Several new voting laws recently enacted in the United States.
From barring early voting to requiring people to provide government-issued photo identification,
some voters are concerned that one of America's most fundamental rights is under attack.
This photo ID law in Wisconsin says you don't have what you need. You're not invited. This democracy, this isn't for you.
You know, we talk about time and time again, that more people should vote. Instead what they're trying to do here in Kansas
is make it more difficult.
When it comes to a record on disenfranchising American citizens,
Florida has that record hands down.
You're talking about keeping tens, if not
hundreds of thousands of legal voters from being able to cast their vote.
In 2016, in those presidential elections, in the primary before it,
that was the first time that voters had to show an ID.
So when you think of this law and that strict list of IDs,
make no mistake that this law is
uniquely curated to stop specific people from voting.
And with 2018 happening now
we have a lot of work to do. The truth is is that it is difficult to get an ID in Wisconsin.
This is Gladys Harris. This was the first time in her life that her vote did not count.
She's pictured here with her Milwaukee County
government-issued bus pass, but that wouldn't get her a ballot counted in Wisconsin.
Fred Lydell. Fred is 99. The poll workers recognized him by face, but he didn't have the ID he needed.
Here's Ruby. She had been denied an ID. Never had a birth certificate.
This is Claudelle. And his birth certificate said Claurdelle.
Andrea Anthony, another Milwaukee voter.
So this is Cynderia.
This is Steve Pasowitz.
Wisconsin Republican Governor Scott Walker signed the voter ID law.
We now require a photo ID to vote in this state.
This is the first time testifying.
I'm going up to tell the court about my experience.
I think I literally am the most prototypical voter that you can ask for and
you know, I wasn't allowed to vote.
You know when I think about a birth certificate,
well, that's easy for me to get, and if they'd asked me I could have provided it,
but not everybody's in the same situation as myself.
You know, I shouldn't have to sue the Secretary of State in order to be able to vote.
I heard this story about how many tens of thousands of Kansas citizens were not put on the voter rolls
because of this proof of citizenship requirement, and I thought I wonder if that's what happened to me.
It does appear that
aliens do vote in very large numbers and that's why Kansas has been fighting so hard to stop aliens from registering at the front end.
It's a big problem.
Again, you don't have any hard, physical evidence that this happened.
How are you feeling today about court?
Very good, thanks.
You weren't able to vote?
No, I was given a provisional ballot
and later on found out that that was not counted.
Oh look, there we are.
Dale, what does today mean?
This case is all about protecting the rights of thousands of Kansans and
disproving the lie that there are hordes of non-citizens infiltrating American elections
which has been purveyed by the defendant in this case. He's had the ear of the President on this issue.
The president didn't start tweeting about supposedly not losing the popular vote until he met with Kobach.
Now he has to prove his assertions in court and I don't think he's gonna be able to do it.
We will play a deposition of Kris Kobach
and it will really shine a light on really what is a nationwide plan here to make voting harder.
I've you've ever been denied the opportunity to vote because of a prior felony conviction,
stand up.
Stand up.
Understand that this is the moment when our ancestors died, shed blood on the streets, was hung
on trees, from trees.
This is the moment when our ancestors marched
Our family marched and suffered
so everybody could be treated with dignity.
This is that moment they marched for. This is that moment they died for.
We have an opportunity in our hands
to strike a fatal blow to this repressive policy.
What legacy are you leaving for your kids and your grandkids?
My wife was running for office.
Someone approached me and like "Desmond, I guess you cannot wait to vote for your wife." And when they said that it was like
like someone just stuck a knife in an old wound. I am what you call it a returning citizen and that means that I
at some point in my life
I was convicted of a felony offense and because I live in the state of Florida
I was permanently stripped of all of my civil rights which included the ability to vote as well
When you talk about taking away the one
identifier of — the one true identifier of citizenship from a person, you basically strip them of their citizenship.
Three US states deprived convicted felons of the right to vote for the rest of their lives
One of those is Florida and there are 1.7 estimated million people there who are disenfranchised due to a prior felony conviction
I mean, can you reassure me? Because this affects my life too.
I'm gonna have to live under the president that you choose.
Well, let me—  will this make you more likely that we get better politicians. I mean, that's a fair question
America is a nation of second chances and when that door of prison opens, societies should do everything it can to help
facilitate a successful re-entry because it's in society's best interest
"You're excommunicated from our
society for the rest of your life." The impact that it has is in telling someone that they're no longer part of society
but yet you want them to pay taxes, but yet you want them to do the right thing.
You can't have your cake and eat it, too
If you want them to be a contributing member of society, then you have to give them that opportunity to do so
Guys, we have three months left.
As you guys all know, we need
sixty percent of individuals who turn out to vote
to vote "yes" on Amendment 4.
So now we're asking for individuals who are looking to pledge from now through November 6
to pledge to collect fifty pledges from folders.
Congratulations everyone
Thank you so much for all the hard work that everyone did. This is terrific news
I have not finished reading.
Well, it only gets better
Along the way
The first thing I want to talk about is just letting the clients know
Tad's already reached out and I think it would also be great if we sent them all a copy of the opinion with
just a little note, thanking them for everything that they did and just kind of summarizing
What it means. Not like an exegesis of it, just that you won.
This is what it takes to register to vote in Kansas now and
Obviously there will be an appeal and we'll keep them posted on how it goes. Who's gonna let Kris Kobach know?
All right on the opinion, the substance of it, is there anything?
When you talk about voter suppression
where do you see, Wisconsin? I mean, how bad is it here?
You know with the combination of all of these things together— gerrymandering and photo ID law—
this was really ground zero. Every state's photo ID law is uniquely curated to affect certain
individuals. Like Texas you can't use a student ID, but you can use a concealed carry
ID. So you know,
each state is
Very specific. Can you imagine if there wasn't same-day voter registration here? With that law it would be—
I don't have the words for it. It seems like they're maybe trying to get rid of that next.
I'm so tired.
Breaking news CNN, Kansas Secretary of State
Kris Kobach has narrowly won last week's GOP primary for governor after incumbent
Jeff Colyer conceded Tuesday night
There are
435 House seats up for grabs tonight, 35 in the Senate and
36 governorships at stake today as well
Well, let's start by talking about the race for Kansas governor. This is gonna be a race
that's gonna keep us up late. Democrat Laura Kelly, Republican Kris Kobach are the frontrunners
Spent a lot of years to get to this point
It was a relief that you know
Everybody can register to vote easily and we could all go cast our ballots if we want to participate in this democracy
You want a tight race? Here's one, Wisconsin
Scott Walker he is fighting for his political life as the incumbent governor
We have a log of about 500 calls that we've received this month
and now today we're getting additional calls of people who want to vote but maybe don't have the ID, don't have the proof of
residency, can't look up their polling location
You're going to need to bring in
your Social Security card
I was going to see if anyone from your team might be willing to—
She's finishing up a ride right now
We'll push out view information on this and I'll send some more volunteers over. So someone was told they couldn't vote because
he was from Minnesota
They said you need to have some sort of physical address and you need to be at a shelter or staying with a friend
How does the voter ID law deter anyone from voting? I don't get it
We had a nail-biter in Florida
One of the ballot initiatives in Florida that has raised a lot of national attention
Amendment 4 which would restore voting rights to felons. This affects over a million potential voters
It's 4:30 on the East Coast that we're heading into an evening that is guaranteed to be both exciting and historic
Is there a long line in Tosa?
That's outside in Tosa right now? Yeah. Getting reports of a lot of people who thought they were registered but didn't appear on the rolls
So we are 40 minutes till polls closed and we're still seeing a lot of calls come in, putting out a lot of fires and still
Working up until the last minute to make sure people can vote
Are people— How many students are in line right now?
Thirteen, twelve, eleven, ten
News out of Florida, Amendment 4 will pass
Oh my God, it was like nerve-wracking. It was going up and down a little bit and I was just— listen
I'm not a political expert and I don't know how to analyze those numbers, but I just knew that
we were above sixty percent and it needed to stay that way. We were above sixty the whole night
It's a great feeling, it really is
I'm so proud to be in the state of Florida right now.
Even though they said it would never happen because it was too politically volatile,
too racially charged,
It happened. It happened.
This is that watershed moment in history that could shift the tide. What we accomplish here today
culminates into a movement that could be the defining moment for this country, that could shape the path,
which this country goes from here on out,
that we move together, that we can address issues that impact us as human beings,
that we could do it collectively, that we don't need barriers. We don't need labels.
We don't need division to make anything happen in this country.
We did the impossible in the state of Florida.
Kris Kobach just went down to defeat in Kansas. Really? We're calling it right now. Kris Kobach
losing, and looks like he's losing big to Laura Kelly
The Associated Press has called the Wisconsin governor's race. With 99% of precincts reporting
Tony Ebers has won the race for governor of Wisconsin. Scott Walker with 48% of the vote. This is a big upset
Suffice it to say that we stand in one of the most momentous periods of human history
Men these days, when the problems of the world are gigantic and extent and chaotic in detail,
all men of goodwill must make the right decisions
of whether we will allow our nation to be relegated
to a second-rate power in the world with no moral voice
Whether America will take the high road of justice and peace,
compassion for the poor and underprivileged,
or whether this nation will tread the low road of man's inhumanity to man, of injustice, of short sightedness
Go to the polls and vote your convictions
