Hillary Clinton: Republican voting rights attacks are ‘blast from Jim Crow past’

Bentley met Thursday with U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell, who had called for the Department of Justice to investigate the impact of the closures since Alabama requires a photo ID to vote.

“After careful consideration of options regarding the closure of 31 Driver’s License offices in Alabama’s rural counties, I have asked that an Alabama Law Enforcement Agency examiner be provided one day a month to service those counties affected”, Bentley said in a statement.

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton speaks during a meeting of the Alabama Democratic Conference in Hoover, Ala., Saturday, October 17, 2015. In a number of those states, Alabama, South Carolina, Mississippi, Georgia and Louisiana, blacks could make up a majority or close to a majority of the Democratic primary electorate. “What part of democracy are these Republicans afraid of?”

Clinton, who has made voting rights a cornerstone issue in her campaign, called the governor to re-open the offices and said these laws are “constructed today to discourage even intimidate people from voting”. “I’ve won elections, and I’ve lost elections, but I sure feel better when as many people as possible show up and raise their voice”.

Neither her criticisms nor her positions were new. Alabama is among nearly a dozen states stretching from Virginia to Texas that are scheduled to vote early in the nominating process in 2016.

Bentley said the budget approved by lawmakers had required many state agencies “to make hard business decisions regarding how they will allocate their limited resources”. The front-loaded Southern schedule is actually a byproduct of Republicans domination in the region.

Democrats, however, have charged that the decision to close the offices is politically motivated due to the state’s strict voter identification laws and will disproportionately affect African-American voters.

“It’s time for your governor and legislators to not only listen to their constituents but listen to their conscience about what it means to be a leader”, she said. “Some of you may remember, President Obama and I went at it pretty good”, she said about the 2008 election.

She never mentioned her closest competitor, but it was an approach that Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders can not match.

Sewell said she’s encourage by the announcement, but there is “much more work that the Governor and the State Legislature must do to address the dire effect of the state budget cuts on rural Alabama”.

Bentley announced the decision in a statement Friday afternoon.

Bentley concluded, “Meanwhile Mrs. Clinton can work to solve our country’s $18 Trillion deficit, in the unfortunate event she is elected President”.