Civil-rights groups denounce new voting laws
http://dervishcom.blogspot.com/2011/12/civil-rights-groups-denounce-new-voting.html
Civil-rights groups today stepped up their attacks on new voting restrictions and called for forceful action by Attorney General Eric Holder to preserve minorities' voting rights ahead of the 2012 presidential election.
Officials with The Advancement Project said they will deliver a petition with 120,000 signatures to Holder this week, urging the U.S. Department of Justice to "use all of its powers to stop the rash of voter suppression laws" that passed state legislatures this year.
"It is imperative that DOJ stand up and protect the fundamental pillar of our democracy," Judith Browne Dianis, The Advancement Project's co-director, said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Florida Sen. Bill Nelson, a Democrat up for re-election next year, announced today that a Senate subcommittee will hold a field hearing next month in Tampa to probe whether the new laws are designed to disenfranchise minority voters.
Seven states, including Florida, passed laws this year to shorten early voting. Six approved laws requiring voters to have photo identification to cast their ballots.
Opponent say the laws, approved largely by Republican-controlled state legislatures, are aimed at lowering turnout among African Americans, Latinos and low-income people who traditionally support Democratic candidates. Proponents say the laws will help prevent voter fraud and will hold down the cost of elections.
Holder is slated to deliver a voting-rights speech Tuesday at the Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library & Museum in Austin. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Law in 1965.
Under that law, the federal government has the authority to review changes to voting laws in nine states and parts of seven others with a history of racial discrimination at the polls.
Officials with The Advancement Project said they will deliver a petition with 120,000 signatures to Holder this week, urging the U.S. Department of Justice to "use all of its powers to stop the rash of voter suppression laws" that passed state legislatures this year.
"It is imperative that DOJ stand up and protect the fundamental pillar of our democracy," Judith Browne Dianis, The Advancement Project's co-director, said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Florida Sen. Bill Nelson, a Democrat up for re-election next year, announced today that a Senate subcommittee will hold a field hearing next month in Tampa to probe whether the new laws are designed to disenfranchise minority voters.
Seven states, including Florida, passed laws this year to shorten early voting. Six approved laws requiring voters to have photo identification to cast their ballots.
Opponent say the laws, approved largely by Republican-controlled state legislatures, are aimed at lowering turnout among African Americans, Latinos and low-income people who traditionally support Democratic candidates. Proponents say the laws will help prevent voter fraud and will hold down the cost of elections.
Holder is slated to deliver a voting-rights speech Tuesday at the Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library & Museum in Austin. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Law in 1965.
Under that law, the federal government has the authority to review changes to voting laws in nine states and parts of seven others with a history of racial discrimination at the polls.
