Greg Abbott invokes states rights in defending Texas against federal voting-rights efforts
Republican governor candidate Greg Abbott says if the Obama administration gets its way, the Justice Department will be regulating Texas elections for at least the next ten years. “They are trying to deny Texas our sovereign rights,” Abbott told Fox News on Friday. Abbott warned that the administration’s decision to go to court to make Texas get federal approval before making changes to election laws could block implementation of the state’s new photo-ID requirement for voters. Critics say the requirement discriminates against minorities and would have the effect of suppressing the vote of blacks and Hispanics. Abbott defends it, saying it’s aimed at curbing voter fraud.
The U.S. Supreme Court last month gutted a portion of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Abbott immediately announced the decision allows Texas to start requiring voters to show an official photo ID in order to vote. Attorney General Eric Holder’s announcement Thursday that the government wants to put Texas under federal scrutiny could delay that. A federal court has found the state’s voter-ID law racially discriminatory.
Abbott has made voter-ID an important part of his appeal to Republican voters. Several years ago, he announced there was an “epidemic” of voter fraud in Texas and he launched an investigation. At the time, the attorney general found fewer than three dozen cases to prosecute – all against Democrats, all but one against blacks or Hispanics. Of those, two-thirds were technical violations in which voters were eligible, votes were properly cast and no vote was changed. More recently, Abbott’s office says it has filed more cases, some against Republicans.
As I wrote in a column published today, in a competitive general election, Abbott’s history of prosecuting Democrats and defending district lines that the courts have found discriminate against minorities might be an issue. Eventually, it could hamper the GOP’s outreach to minorities. But Texas is not competitive, general election state at the moment. Democrats haven’t elected anyone to statewide office since 1994. For Abbott, the voters that count are in the GOP primary where bashing the Obama administration is good politics.
Source: http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/2013/07/greg-abbott-invokes-states-rights-in-defending-texas-against-federal-voting-rights-efforts.html/
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