EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS
Associated Press
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi is preparing to use its new voter ID law for the first time, culminating a long political fight in a state with a troubled past of voting-rights suppression.
People will be required to show a driver’s license or other government-issued photo identification at the polls during Tuesday’s party primaries for U.S. House and Senate.
The secretary of state’s office says about 1,000 people who lacked an acceptable form of photo ID have received a free one from local election clerks.
Until last summer, Mississippi and other states with a history of racial discrimination had to get federal approval for any changes to elections laws. A U.S. Supreme Court ruling erased that mandate and cleared the way for Mississippi’s voter ID law, which had been awaiting Justice Department clearance.
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