AG (Holder) says Texas ID law would harm minorities

[onehandle]

Source: AP

WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General Eric Holder said Tuesday he opposes a new photo ID requirement in Texas elections because it would be harmful to minority voters. In remarks to the NAACP in Houston, the attorney general said the Justice Department "will not allow political pretexts to disenfranchise American citizens of their most precious right."

Under the law passed in Texas, Holder said that "many of those without IDs would have to travel great distances to get them — and some would struggle to pay for the documents they might need to obtain them."

Holder made the comments amid a trial in federal court in Washington over the 2011 law passed by Texas' GOP-dominated Legislature that requires voters to show photo identification when they get to the polls.

"I don't know what will happen as this case moves forward, but I can assure you that the Justice Department's efforts to uphold and enforce voting rights will remain aggressive," the attorney general said. He said the arc of American history has always moved toward expanding the electorate and that "we will simply not allow this era to be the beginning of the reversal of that historic progress."


Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/ag-says-texas-id-law-harm-minorities-155909283.html

[Wellstone ruled]

1. Hey Holder:STF up and go after

these turds!!!

[Coyotl]

2. Actually, his speaking up is very important AND DoJ is going after these dracoian alterations to law

I don't know where your insult comes from, but it seems ill-founded given the facts of the case.

[elleng]

4. Not a helpful comment.

Wellstone??? Don't think he would have put it that way, and would have recognized that AG Holder is doing just what 'Wellstone ruled' APPEARS to support.

[Iliyah]

3. Thats the point Holder.

Whites only get to vote, Jim Crow, but more subtle. And then you have the white on the inside while black, brown, et al., who also supports show me your i.d.

In the future, once the i.d. laws become unable to stop minorities from voting, these goppers will come up with something else to try and stop voters from voting, y'know, what democracy is suppose to be.

But you have the goppers across the country saying that Pres O want to take away your freedoms.

[Doctor_J]

5. So go slap the cuffs on Perry

"he opposes the new requirement"???????

WTF is wrong with this guy? He needs to look at one of his business cards. Maybe then he'll remember that he's the nation's supreme law enforcement agent, and can do something about it

[loyalkydem]

6. If only they

put into the original constitution a note that said, it is the duty of EVERY American citizen to vote and Congress shall make every effort to ensure every vote counts. I would go so far to suggest that election day should be a Federal holiday.

[HotRodTuna]

7. If you can't travel from your house to get an ID

How do you travel to vote? Just curious.

The voter ID law in Texas doesn't fix the biggest issue in voter fraud anyway, absentee ballots.

I know this will bring the fury, and just for the record when I voted here in Texas this year and had to produce my ID it kind of pissed me off (but guess what, I had it), but if you can't figure out how to obtain an ID card of some kind, you have no business choosing the leader of this country. I'd rather have an illegal alien who's smart enough to scam a fake ID vote than someone that can't figure out where the front door to their house is. Probably shouldn't be posting at the end of a long day...

[Steerpike]

8. That is odd.

I've always had to show my voter ID card and State ID/Drivers License when voting. I've never had any problems.

[sakabatou]

9. That's what these laws are supposed to do

Make it harder for minorities, the poor and the elderly to vote.

[Cal33]

10. Sure hope Holder will also be carrying out what he says he will do.