Congresswoman Terri A. Sewell Urges Department of Justice to Investigate Potential Voting Rights Infringements in Greene County Bingo Raids
Press Release
Today, Congresswoman Terri A. Sewell (AL-7) sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder requesting that the Department of Justice (DOJ) investigate potential voting rights infringements in Greene County in light of the March 31 raid of four bingo halls.
In her letter, Congresswoman Sewell renewed her appeal to DOJ requesting a reexamination of the potential voting rights violations citing that "the people of Greene County have been repeatedly targeted by the State in politically motivated raids in violation of their constitutional rights." Sewell argued that "the issue is that the citizens of Greene County in 2003 overwhelmingly voted in favor of state constitutional amendment 743 to authorize electronic bingo and through a series of Alabama Supreme Court cases the rights of the citizens of Greene County have been systematically nullified."
Sewell issued the following statement in response to the March 31 raids of four bingo halls in Greene County:
"It is unfortunate that the State of Alabama continues to ignore state constitutional amendment 743 that was overwhelmingly passed in 2003 by the citizens of Greene County to allow the usage of electronic bingo. It is equally disturbing that the type of machines and manner in which they are being used has not been found to be unlawful," said Rep. Sewell. "The four Greene County bingo halls involved in raids have been a critical source of economic development and job creation for the 7th Congressional District. Greene County's unemployment rate has decreased by more than 7.3 percent since 2010, the largest decrease seen in the 7th District. The closing of these bingo halls serves as a tremendous threat to current and future employment resulting in the loss of more than 1,000 jobs county-wide. This is why I renew my commitment to working with my constituents to urge the Justice Department to investigate potential voting rights infringements and to get the more than 1,000 people affected by these raids back to work."
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