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(Image source: KPRC)
BY FERDOUS AL-FARUQUE
Eric Holder took a huge swing at a controversial Texas voter ID law in front of an NAACP convention
in Houston on Tuesday. The first black attorney general called it a “poll tax,” equating
it to Jim Crow laws that disenfranchised African Americans after slavery. Houston’s KPRC
has Holder’s remarks:
KPRC: “We will not allow political pretext to disenfranchise American citizens of their
most precious right.”
ABC’s Amy Bingham notes, “Holder’s ‘poll tax’ comment was not in the prepared remarks
which were given to the press.”
The comments also come a day after a panel of three federal judges in D.C. began to hear
arguments whether the Texas law violates the 1965 Voting Rights Act by discriminating against
minorities. According to CNN:
CNN: “The Justice Department in March rejected the Texas law, passed in 2011, using
the state's own statistics to show about 600,000 registered voters there lack a state-issued
driver's license or identification card.”
Texas is one of eight states that passed laws last year requiring government-issued
photo IDs to vote. New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice says the new laws
could make it significantly harder for up to 5 million eligible voters to cast their
ballot. According to the center:
NYU: “These new restrictions fall most heavily on young, minority, elderly and low-income
voters, as well as on voters with disabilities. This wave of changes may sharply tilt the
political terrain for the 2012 election and beyond.”
However, proponents of the Texas voter ID law such as Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott
say that contention is:
Abbott: “…baseless because Texas offers all voters a photo ID free of charge. Perhaps
most significant, historical facts disprove Holder's race-based concerns: After Indiana
and Georgia implemented their voter ID laws, minority voter turnout actually increased
in both states.”