Hillary Clinton called attention to a particular policy from Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley Saturday, saying that the state's Republican voting policies are "a blast from the Jim Crow past," according to The Guardian.
Bentley closed driver's licensing offices in 31 counties across the state, which have a high number of African-American residents. Alabama demands that voters provide photo ID in order to vote.
Clinton was speaking at a luncheon when she blasted these policies. An audience of about 700 gathered to hear her words, The Guardian reported.
"What part of democracy are these Republicans so afraid of?...I've won elections, and I've lost elections, but I sure feel better when as many people as possible show up and vote," she said during the event, according to the Associated Press. Alabama is an early primary voting state. Residents will cast their ballots in 2016.
The Jim Crow laws created segregation across the southern U.S. for decades.
Clinton called for the Alabama government to "not only listen to their constituents, but listen to their consciences," she said, CNN reported. "We have to defend the most fundamental right in our democracy, the right to vote...No one in this state, no one, should ever forget the history that enabled generations of people left out and left behind to finally be able to vote."
