Hillary Clinton slams Alabama governor over voting rights

(Image credit: Getty Images)

published 18 October 2015

At a campaign stop in Hoover, Alabama, on Saturday, Hillary Clinton criticized Gov. Robert Bentley's (R-Ala.) announcement to close 31 driver-licensing offices in mostly black areas, which, voting rights advocates argue, makes it harder for those residents to vote.

Amid backlash, Bentley said Friday the offices would open once monthly, but Clinton stressed the change wasn't enough, The Washington Post reports.

"This is wrong," she said. "Fifty years after Rosa Parks sat and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. marched and John Lewis bled, it is hard to believe that we are back having this same debate."

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Bentley has denied allegations that closing the offices was a way to thwart black people from voting, saying his critics have a "political agenda," and that the move was necessary to cut costs.

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Julie Kliegman is a freelance writer based in New York. Her work has appeared in BuzzFeed, Vox, Mental Floss, Paste, the Tampa Bay Times and PolitiFact. Her cats can do somersaults.