Cost of Freedom Project

Open Letter to Proud Black Voters,

I am writing to ask for your support for the Cost of Freedom Voter ID App, a user-friendly app that will cut through the confusion and help voters get an official photo ID.





As you know, the Justice Department blocked South Carolina from implementing its voter ID law; rulings on Texas and Mississippi are pending. As of this writing, strict photo ID requirements will be in effect in Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Tennessee and Wisconsin. There’s a 50-50 chance that Pennsylvania, a battleground state, will enact a voter ID law this year.

In 2000, we didn't know about the butterfly ballot design or clogged punch-card voting machines. Today, we know millions of citizens do not have government-issued photo ID. In Wisconsin, a swing state, 55% of African American men and 46% of Latino men do not have a driver’s license. Similarly, 49% of Black women and 59% of Latino women lack an official photo ID.

Among African Americans aged 18-24, 78% of Black men and 66% of Black women do not have a driver’s license. If the Wisconsin election is close, photo IDs could affect the outcome.

Casting a provisional ballot is not a solution. In 2008, 1,000 voters in Indiana were turned away because they did not have government-issued photo ID. That may not sound like a lot but George W. Bush won Florida by 537 votes.

Florida Rep. Frederica Wilson told MSNBC: "All of a sudden after the 2008 election, these (voter ID laws) miraculously appear. Why? Because we have a Black president in the White House and it is to stop all of the people of color from … coming out to vote."

The Cost of Freedom Voter ID App will quickly give users information on how to get a voter ID. With the rollback of hours at the DMV and bureaucratic delays in processing requests for birth certificates, voters cannot wait until September to get ready. They need to be educated about their state’s photo ID requirements and provided assistance now.

Please visit the Cost of Freedom Voter ID App campaign today and make a pledge. The civil rights generation fought for the right to vote. As voter ID laws proliferate across the country, it’s now our responsibility to remove impediments to the ballot box.

The struggle continues.

Sincerely,
Faye Anderson, Chief Evangelist
Cost of Freedom Project