Current TV EXCLUSIVE: Civil Rights Leader John Lewis On GOP Voting Laws: 'They Want To Take Us Back'

[Playinghardball]

On tonight’s VIEWPOINT with Eliot Spitzer, Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), a leader in the Civil Rights movement who played a key role in the struggle to end segregation, talked to Eliot Spitzer about the GOP’s efforts to change voting regulations in states across the country, an effort Democrats say is tantamount to voter suppression.

Referring to the newly proposed voter ID laws and other similar legislation, Lewis says that “what is so frightening, it’s not just a regional thing, it’s not just the Old South. But it’s all over America. They want to take us back to another period . . . It’s not the literacy test. It’s not the poll tax. It’s not people being beaten and trampled, but it reminds people of a bygone period.”

Here’s a great clip with just some of what you will see if you watch tonight, September 13th, 2012, at 8pm ET/5pm PT on Current TV’s VIEWPOINT with Eliot Spitzer.

http://current.com/shows/viewpoint/videos/civil-rights-leader-john-lewis-condemns-gop-voting-laws-they-want-to-take-us-back/

[justiceischeap]

1. I have to disagree with part of Lewis' statement

I think it's very much like a poll tax. In order to get ID, if you have a job, you have to take time off. If you don't already have a state ID, one can logically assume you don't own a vehicle, so you'll have to shell out some form of cash to get to the DMV to get the ID and if you can't afford all of that, you can't vote. Sounds very much like a form of poll tax to me.

If these states were really concerned about people being able to vote, they would provide free transportation and extend hours at the DMV.