Posted on 07/08/2012 10:47:27 AM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
(CNN) – Attorney General Eric Holder promised Saturday to do all in his power to protect Americans’ right to vote.
Speaking at the annual conference of the National Council of La Raza in Las Vegas, he praised the group and encouraged it to keep holding politicians’ feet to the fire. La Raza is the largest national Latino civil rights and advocacy organization in the United States.
“Despite the truth and transformative power of the American Dream and despite all the progress we’ve made over the last 236 years, our nation’s struggle to overcome injustice and eliminate disparities remains far from over,” Holder said, according to a copy of his prepared remarks.
Speaking on behalf of the U.S. Justice Department, which he helms, he said, “We’ll do everything in our power to stand vigilant against any and all measures that threaten to undermine the effectiveness and integrity of our elections systems — and to infringe on the single most important right of American citizenship: the right to vote.”
Holder is likely to make similar comments next week at the annual convention of the NAACP in Houston, Texas, where he is scheduled to speak.
Addressing the La Raza conference, the attorney general discussed how his department has responded over the last 18 months to proposed laws that could make it more difficult for some voters to cast ballots.
For example, the Justice Department in March blocked a controversial new Texas law requiring voters to present personal identification before going to the polls, saying it could have a discriminatory effect on Hispanics and other minorities.
Texas is among eight states to require official photo identification in an effort to stop what officials say is voter fraud. Opponents of the laws say they disenfranchise poor, minority and disabled voters.
A similar voter ID law in South Carolina was blocked by the Obama administration in December.
Texas and South Carolina then had the option of asking a federal court in the nation’s capital to review the laws, and allow them to be enforced this election year.
A trial is scheduled to start Monday in Washington before a three-judge federal court on the proposed Texas ID law.
“In each of the jurisdictions where proposed changes can be shown to have no discriminatory purpose or effect, we’ll follow the law and approve the change. Where jurisdictions cannot meet this threshold, we will object — under the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and other laws — in order to guarantee that all eligible citizens have unrestricted access to the ballot box,” said Holder.
The landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965 gives the federal government the power to oversee any changes in voting procedures in states and jurisdictions with a history of voter discrimination.
Toward the beginning of his speech in Las Vegas, the attorney general joked that it was nice to be “outside of Washington,” a possible reference to the pressure he’s been under there because of Fast and Furious — a discredited gun-running operation that has become a sharp point of contention between Democrats and Republicans.
The House of Representatives voted last week to hold Holder in contempt for refusing to turn over documents tied to the program. President Barack Obama has asserted executive privilege in the case, and Holder will not face criminal prosecution.
Yet we demand photo ID to gain entry to the Democrat National Convention.
And Moochelle book signings.
It's just that he ain't
Whenever leftists get to protecting something, they are running a scam.
but only if you are voting for barak
Yet we will compromise the integrity of the ENTIRE voting process because we may discomfit a tiny fraction of people too lazy to obtain a valid ID. How many might be effected? Less than 0.01%?
The lefties offer free rides to anybody who needs it to get a voter ID.
Holder’s arguments make zero sense.
I can't believe how Holder's people, the sick, lame and lazy, are so incompetent that they can't obtain a voter I.D. If they are so incompetent that they can't fill out a form to prove that they are a U.S. citizen, who the hell filled out their voter registration forms and forms to receive absentee ballots? Hiding and voting "in the shadows" is something that I think the brave Iraqi people would frown upon. I can't believe that crap is allowed to go on here in America.
“The landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965 gives the federal government the power to oversee any changes in voting procedures in states and jurisdictions with a history of voter discrimination.”
How does this not violate equal protection when it doesn’t apply to all states? Anyone can see that the democrats don’t want any impediment to non-citizens, not-registered, or under-age persons to be able to vote when or where, or however many times they like.
ping
... you can bet your bottom dollar it's NOT the 2nd Amendment!!
At least it was, until 2009.
Illegal and/or incompetent voters deprive me of the civil right to have my voice heard.
“Attorney General Holder pledges to protect the right to vote”
Where’s that picture of Witholder’s black panthers “protecting the vote” (for dhimmicrats) when you need it?
Seriously...how has this guy not been arrested for the s^&t he’s done. If the average american knew that Eric Holder started a program where he literally GAVE assault weapons to criminals that in turn killed one of our own....
well maybe they’d do nothing...right now our liberties are being stripped and like in Star Wars it’s to applause...
maybe soliloquists have it right and this is just all in my head....please let it be true
Seriously...how has this guy not been arrested for the s^&t he’s done. If the average american knew that Eric Holder started a program where he literally GAVE assault weapons to criminals that in turn killed one of our own....
well maybe they’d do nothing...right now our liberties are being stripped and like in Star Wars it’s to applause...
maybe soliloquists have it right and this is just all in my head....please let it be true
I go to the polls and vote; an illegal voter casts an opposite vote. My vote is nullified and that’s just peachy with Holder- no one says it so I will: Holder likes visibly sh****ng on white people.
My vote is NOT being protected by directly or indirectly permitting illegal voting.
So whose vote is the Marxist regime trying to protect?
“and eliminate disparities...”
Hey Holder, your manifesto is showing! From each according to his abilities...
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