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U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder today leveled the Obama administration's strongest criticism yet at new voting laws that, for example, require photo ID's at the polls, limit early voting, and restrict periods for registration.
In a speech prepared for delivery at the LBJ Library at the University of Texas in Austin, Holder quoted Rep. John Lewis (D-GA), a longtime civil rights leader, who said recently that voting rights are under attack by "a deliberate and systematic attempt to prevent millions of elderly voters, young voters, students, and minority and low-income voters from exercising their constitutional right to engage in the democratic process."
What Lewis was talking about, Holder said, was concerns about "some of the state-level voting law changes we’ve seen this legislative season."
The Justice Department is now reviewing some of those new laws. "We will examine the facts, and we will apply the law," Holder said.
"If a state passes a new voting law and meets its burden of showing that the law is not discriminatory, we will follow the law and approve the change. And where a state can’t meet this burden, we will object as part of our obligation" under the Voting Rights Act, he said.
That law, Holder said, is being challenged in at least five lawsuits. And the U.S. Supreme Court recently expressed the view that the time may be ending when close review by the Justice Department is required for changes in voting procedures in states with a history of racial discriminating at the polls. Perhaps, some members of the court said, that requirement of the Voting Rights Act is no longer necessary.
"I wish this were the case. The reality is that in jurisdictions across the country, both overt and subtle forms of discrimination remain all too common," Holder said.
He called the recent effort at congressional and legislative redistricting in Texas "precisely the kind of discrimination" that the Voting Rights Act was intended to block. The Supreme Court has agreed to review the state's newly drawn districts and a lower federal court's substitution of a different plan.
New census data showed Texas gaining more than four million new residents, most of them Latinos, allowing the state four new seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. But Texas, Holder said, "proposed adding zero additional seats in which Hispanics would have the electoral opportunity envisioned by the Voting Rights Act.
"As concerns about the protection of this right and the integrity of our election systems become an increasingly prominent part of our national dialogue, we must consider some important questions. It is time to ask: What kind of nation and what kind of people do we want to be? Are we willing to allow this era, our era, to be remembered as the age when our nation’s proud tradition of expanding the franchise ended? Are we willing to allow this time, our time, to be recorded in history as the age when the long-held belief that, in this country, every citizen has the chance and the right to help shape their government, became a relic of our past, instead of a guidepost for our future?
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I think Holder has enough problems to worry about...ex: fast & furious....it's funny msnbc never reports anything negative about this administrative....lol....he knows without voter fraud....Obama will-not be re-elected...anyone who is a citizen can get an id....they want all the illegals vote...I hope he is impeached...he is nothing but a thug...like his boss in the WH.....
hey Dixie,
Why don't you just thank your stars that Holder is not prosecuting your lying masters the war criminals and your best friends the banksters?
We know your world would be turned upside down if the people who tanked the country had to pay for what they did.
hey humansmatter if the former admin were war criminals, why isn't Holder prosecuting them? That makes him almost as guilty doesn't it? Why isn't he going after Wall St?
Who's world would be turned upside down? Try the lying Obama admin.
He'll be re-elected. People with your views are a loud minority.
I am for prosecuting eric holder's fast& furious, bankers that killed our economy and socialized their debts, torturers, and voter fraud/intimidation what does that make me?
Who in the world would take Holder's opinion seriously about anything?????????????
The man is a joke, as is most of the other adminstration in Washington and should have to stand trial for some of his ridiculous screw-ups. Some of which cost a fine law enforcement officer his life!!!!!!!!!!!
Ha, ha, ha, Rethuglicans. I am a low income, gay man. I have a passport, certified copies of my birth certificate and a state issued driver's license. I am going to vote, as I always do, and I am going to be voting AGAINST Republicans!
By the way, I am also a landowner. Just try going back to that standard, I will still be voting AGAINST you.
That's fine but show your ID and vote for whomever you please. The idea of referring to people as "Rethuglicans" tips your hand as a human being and a serious commentator, however. Serious people don't need to engage in labels or name calling. But DO be well.
who cares what you do or who you are northernlights.
Jim Crow laws were put in place by Democraps - not Republicans. Stop reading revisionist history - duh!!!
Holder could just mobilize his army of black panthers to make sure election fraud continues.
To..Common """
Such a silly the no black panthers ..were not black panthers ..
why would a non-law enforcement group be allowed to prvide sercurity for a polling station?
The black panthers already stood outside a Philadelphia polling place with bats.
Amunaka and dumbass need to follow the news a bit.
Love the TWISTED LIBERAL LOGIC! Requiring voters to present a photo ID is voter supression? - but allowing Black Panthers with billy clubs in front of a voting precinct in Philadelphia to intimidate voters is not?? Beam me up Scotty! We are truly in Democrap LaLa Land!!!!
Why didn't Holder file charges against the black panthers in Philadelphia...he refused to do anything because they were "black"....he is a racist...and so is Obama....
To..dixie "
No but you seem to be...
Black Panther Voter Intimidation in Philly?
Some local voters are calling a foul
, Nov 4, 2008
There is no connection between these men and the Black Panther party, according to the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office.
Philly DA spokesperson Cathie Abookire told CNN that this was a "non-incident."
The Philly DA also said as of 2:30 p.m. that overall voting problems in Philadelphia were down from 2004 when there were 49 incidents reported.
FOX News reported this incident to actually be Black Panthers intimidating voters by blocking the door.
No voter has been denied the vote...this is the United States of America and unless [the men standing outside] break the law or do anything, they have the right to stand out there. We don't need anybody trying to trump up anything or generate any kind of excitement," said Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter.
So if you have a bunch of white guys standing in front of a voting poll with bats talking crap that okay? Gee.
Why didn't Bush's AG file charges. This allegedly happened during his term. Guess you missed the date.
You got that right! They are racists - but the libertards will never buy that! It is that double standard or TWISTED LIBERAL LOGIC! LMAO!!!!!
Amunka- if you put a sheet over your head and commit a crime you would be called KKK. If gangster wannabees say they are black panthers and wear black panther garb why would you not believe them?
Voter fraud is rampant among Democrat voters in many areas as the result of efforts by ACORN and other organizations, and Chicago is the original home of voter fraud, assisted by the Daley machine. Picture ID for voting is not an effort to restrict any legitiment persons' right to vote, simply to guarantee that they actually have the right to vote and that they are the person that they claim to be. It should also be required that they show proof of citizenship when they register to vote.
The old Dem idea of "vote early and vote often" has more truth than fiction.
To..Michael"""
No still fiction...
Well it seems there 's nothing scarier than a black guy dressed like a black panther voting as Mary Poppins or a dead person ..over and over again ..
people wake up you been lied too...sad thing is you actually chose to believe this nonsense..
Yep - and Holder is doing the lying.
"Picture ID" means drivers license. Don't drive? You have to get a state IDhich they charge for. Other picture IDs such as a college ID? Too fg bad. Other photo ID? Too fg bad. Can't afford a state ID? Too fg bad. Unable to get to a state office to get a state ID? Too fg bad.
If you need a DL or a state ID to be allowed to vote, they should be free and the state should provide FREE transportation to anyone that needs a state ID to vote.
It seems that anything, and I mean anything, that may be taken as being discriminatory against illegals is a cause in Washington.
What i wanna know is who let a black guy vote as Mary Poppins or Mickey mouse ...where did this happen why weren't charges brought against the poll worker that let that happen ..
Too funny ...illegals are gonna take a chance at getting caught by immigration by walking into a polling place and voting as who....is that what you on the right are saying...
At my polling place if my name ain't on the voter list ..that elderly lady checking names off is not gonna let me vote ...and if there's any problem the police officer that's always there by the door will take care of it
And if you walk in and claim to be someone that is on the voter list?
Well, Holder would want to let you vote. Illegally.
You know amunaka the illegals probably won't put their real address down. 2% of illegals pick our produce but 25% of federal prisoners are illegals. Illegals take the chance when they get welfare and when they have babies in hospitals but that doesn't stop them.
"30% percent of all Federal Prison inmates are illegal aliens."
Both of these claims can be traced back to that same April 1, 2006, episode of "Lou Dobbs Tonight" on CNN, in the same segment, with the same correspondent, Christine Romans. But the e-mail misrepresents what Romans said. She gave figures for people who are "not U.S. citizens," a category that would include legal residents as well as "illegal aliens."
Romans said that "according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, 30 percent of federal prisoners are not U.S. citizens," adding that "most are thought to be illegal aliens." Actually, the Federal Bureau of Prisons does not keep figures on illegal immigrants. What solid numbers we can find point to a much smaller figure. A Department of Justice report from 2003 found that only 1.6 percent of the state and federal prison populations was under Immigration and Customs Enforcement jurisdiction, and thus known to be illegal immigrants. Half of these prisoners were detained only because they were here illegally, not for other crimes.
The Bureau of Prisons does track prisoners by offense when information is available. By that metric, 10.7 percent of prisoners in federal jails were incarcerated for immigration offenses in 2009. In 2006, when Romans gave her report, the figure was 10.2 percent.
http://www.factcheck.org/2009/04/cost-of-illegal-immigrants/
When I read the headline I thought...wow...maybe something I can agree with Eric Holder about...well...wrong again....Who ever gave this guy permission to speak in the first place?....they need to be put away....
Compared to the last two AGs, he's still way ahead of them.
Yeah EGlide, nothing says competence as the US AG like runing guns to Mexico, suing states rather than prosecute criminals. Yeah, he's a real breath of fresh air.
Remember, F&F is just a continuation of a program started during the Shrub misadministration, during which, it suddenly became legal to torture.
Good little Obama follower EGLide-blame it on Bush! You're as pathetic as the big earred clown in the White House.
Umm, NO.
Operation Wide Receiver during 2006 was a small scale operation involving a relatively small number of weapons that were actually traced after being delivered. It was a coordinated effort involving both the US and Mexican governments.
F&F started in late 2009 and involved uncontrolled deliveries of thousands of weapons that ATF totally lost track of. It was a unilateral, half-baked scheme where the guns could only be "traced" after they had been found after commission of a crime - like the killing of a US border agent.
Holder alternately claims ignorance of the operation (even though he received a number of memos about it) and blames Bush (or anyone else that was not involved).
F&F has not roots in the Bush administration.. You idiot libertards do not really know your information! sheesh. Just like trying to say that Solyndra was a brainchild of the Bush administration. Won't work for those of us who truly READ and keep up on things. Solyndra was turned down as being too risky during the Bush administration & F&F did not start during the Bush administration. Wide Receiver and F&F were vastly different in scope and oversight! You morons are pathetic!
As a result of the mistakes made in Wide Receiver, guns were lost: approximately 450 made it into Mexico. As a result, the botched operation launched in 2006 — and in this instance, actually botched — was shut down in 2007
http://pjmedia.com/blog/gunwalker-gunning-down-the-bush-did-it-too-lie/
Holder is an incompetent, racist jackass who would be more than happy to see wholesale voter fraud if it kept him and his equally corrupt boss in power.
To..Obama""
No ..but you wanna talk about voter fraud ...this is old site still up though ..something to ponder..names that might sound familiar
Whose Voting Machines?
by Doug Pibel
posted Dec 31, 2003
Two of the corporations that provide nearly all of the voting machines in the United States—ES&S and Diebold—are controlled by Republicans with strong ties to the Bush administration. One company is also linked to a far-right fundamentalist Christian movement
Diebold and ES&S are heavily interconnected. Brothers Todd and Bob Urosevich founded American Information Services (AIS), which became ES&S when AIS merged with Business Records Corporation (BRC). Todd works at ES&S as vice president, while Bob is now president of Diebold. ES&S claims that it counted 56 percent of U.S. votes in the last four presidential elections.
AIS was initially funded by Howard Ahmanson. Ahmanson is a member of the Council for National Policy, a “steering group” linked to the Bush administration, and has holdings in ES&S. Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, former CEO of AIS, had significant AIS holdings when the company counted the votes for his surprise election victory in 1996. Hagel has been scrutinized by the Senate Ethics Committee over his investments in the McCarthy Group. ES&S, which counted the votes when Hagel was re-elected in 2002, is a subsidiary of the McCarthy Group, according to The Hill.
BRC was started with money from Texas billionaire Nelson Bunker Hunt. Both Ahmanson and Hunt are large contributors to the Chalcedon Foundation, a think tank for the Christian Reconstruction movement, which advocates literal application of Old-Testament law.
So THAT'S where this worry about Sharia law evolved from!
just another obama crook trying to find a way to screw the middle class like always. how is change working out for you obama supporters, china will soon reposess the debt owed them by america thanks to our crooked politicans.
Talk about projection! This guy is projecting at Obama with a lazer. Too bad the bright light keeps him from seeing that it is, in truth, only a projection! Or maybe he simply believes that people making $10,000,000 a year are "middle class".
The voting laws are NOT even restricted enough. NOT only should you have to PROVE where you reside, and a valid drivers licence, BUT have to sign a registered list that is jail time IF you LIE.
How much and what has this guy been promised to make it easier for illegals to vote for OBAMA.
If the person who wrote this article did the job he is paid to do, an in-depth report on WHY OBAMA is so he*l bent on making it easier for Fraud voting in this country would be worth the reading time.
Yes, every voter should be asked how honest Faux Noise is and how stupid Lush Rimbaugh is. If they get either wrong (Faux Noise - Extremely DIShonest, Lush - Extremely STUPID) they should not be allowed to vote.
To..Steve"
Because it's A lie ..
Here are some voter fraud findings for you but you cant tell how much is going on when mexican citizens can vote in several states without ID. http://www.ksdk.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=163905 Acornvoter registration recruiter indicted on voter fraud charges12:32 PM, Jan 5, 2009, http://www.walb.com/story/16104533/12-indicted-for-voter-fraud Posted: Nov 22, 2011. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/14/AR2010071405880.html 2008 voter-intimidation case against New Black Panthers riles the right. http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/minnesota-leads-the-nation-in-voter-fraud-convictions-131782928.html. Eric holder is a racist for saying blacks are most affected by preventing felons to vote.
Guy at the min is the worst AG in our history. Fast and Furious showed that. Or the I have no clue what my department is doing should work for all of us.
But still better than the last two, one of whom decided torture was legal.
eglide- It was not american citizens and Isreal is the only 1st world nation in which torture is legal. Isreali doctors even help with torture so they can be beaten within an inch of thier lives.
How dare folks have to prove who they are in order to vote? After all, Wisconsin is allowing the signatures of Hitler and Mickey Mouse on Walker recall petitions. Fraud? Nothing to see here...
To obama""
You're right nothing to see here ..
so many here don't want voters to ID themslelves.
lets stop IDing for tobacco and alcohol.
also no need to have an ID while driving or getting a libaray card.
no ID for boarding an airplane or buying lotto.
a voter ID? see;
http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/43200
the GOP just can't play fair...........in anything they do.
MJ> Showing ID is common for a variety of things. Now why on earth would proof of who you say you are be different for voting?
fair? Proving you have the right to vote BEFORE you vote is fair. Opposing that is unfair.
Mr. Holder why do we have two dead Border agents? I do not know. Mr. Holder why do we have over two hundred Mexicans dead from weapons from fast and furious. I do not know. Mr. Holder what are you doing about the rap music issue in California. I'm working on that, and addressing the issue.
Gees, Jake, if you don't like the attorney general, I suppose you will be voting for a Republican for President. Which candidate will you vote for?
I am 54 years old and I don't remember ever having to show ID to vote. They had my name down, of course, because I was registered, and I signed my name, that's all.
The only voter fraud I was ever personally involved with was when I managed a judicial campaign in a small community in which I lived and one of the other candidates in the race, a conservative, had his wife running around to help people get absentee ballots. Problem was, while it's legal to deliver absentee ballots to voters, it's illegal to handle the ballots once they have been voted on. She was caught with a number of ballots she retrieved from voters, and the ones that counted for candidates other than her husband were ditched under her car seat. She was criminally prosecuted.Just an anecdote.
Our roof is brand new, and has no leaks. Conservatives would like to come over and "fix" it.
And how would you KNOW if there had been other voter fraud? You wouldn't.
Anecdotes don't address the problem.
Yea the fact you were personally involved in voter fraud shows how rare it is. If there was a law against speeding would all speeders be caught every time?
So states want to:
1. Know that I am who I say I am before I vote.
2. Prevent registration at the last minute that could and has resulted in voter fraud.
3. Ensure that voters have all the facts before casting a ballot.
What an evil plan by Republican controlled state legislatures. These people must be stopped! Wait, this is the same administration that dropped a conviction against the New Black Panthers for voter intimidation, supported a group that has been connected to voter fraud (ACORN), and may not have even had a legal right to be on a primary ballot! It sounds like Holder should be investigating himself. Oh wait, he already is.
To Randy """
total BS ...I take it you're a republican ..no
Please point out anything Randy has posted that is inaccurate. Otherwise, your post is meaningless.
To..obama""
There Is No New Black Panther Party:
An Open Letter From the Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation
In response from numerous requests from individual's seeking information on the "New Black Panthers," the Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation issues this public statement to correct the distorted record being made in the media by a small band of African Americans calling themselves the New Black Panthers. As guardian of the true history of the Black Panther Party, the Foundation, which includes former leading members of the Party, denounces this group's exploitation of the Party's name and history. Failing to find its own legitimacy in the black community, this band would graft the Party's name upon itself, which we condemn.
Firstly, the people in the New Black Panthers were never members of the Black Panther Party and have no legitimate claim on the Party's name. On the contrary, they would steal the names and pretend to walk in the footsteps of the Party's true heroes, such as Black Panther founder Huey P. Newton, George Jackson and Jonathan Jackson, Bunchy Carter, John Huggins, Fred Hampton, Mark Cark, and so many others who gave their very lives to the black liberation struggle under the Party's banner.
Please provide documentation if you are going to say this voter faud has happened.
What is faud?
Can you prove that voter fraud does NOT occur? Of course you can't. No one is checking.
Amunaka, You should read more. The New Black Panther party has been established by Malik Zulu Shabazz. This individual has spoken at a rally attended by Obama (before he was president). This is the organization that was involved in voter intimidation. The Holder justice department declined to follow up on the voter intimidation charge. Your post is meaningless.
Why didn't Bush's AG investigate it. This happened prior to Holder. Dates are important.
What's kind of funny is people actually think blacks... minorities.. illegals .. the elderly.. students are all working together in some kind of grand leftist ..liberal.. socialist.. commie conspiracy to subvert the vote...how..and why would they do this ..their not the ones that control the electronic voting and and easily hackable vote counting machines or the software that goes in them that could easily flip an election with no paper trail ..that worries me a little more than a black guy voting as Mikey Mouse or Mary Poppins...
Amunaka, good rhetorical question. What we see is the usual Republican tactic. First they manufacture a problem that doesn't exist. Then they tell you that you had better be fearful, because the problem they manufactured, like the boogieman, is going to get you. Then they legislate a solution to the manufactured problem, which, oh by the way, just happens to benefit Republicans inordinately. It's quite clever, really. If you can't capture a majority of the vote with sound policy, then, of course, you are compeled to do it in other ways, e.g. voter supression laws and gerrymandered voting districts. BTW, they don't deny the gerrymandering part of the equation, as I saw Grover Norquist openly discuss the fact that it's part of the plan for to prevent tax increases by having Republicans maintain control of the House. So it's admitted. Sorry to answer your rhetorical questions.
What a couple of BS posts. We should all be trying to prevent voter fraud. Most of what cabal said could easily be directed at Democrats.
Voter fraud is a problem that we often don't even measure, much less prevent. You can't prove it does not exist because it is not measured.
And if you somehow don't believe that Democrats have gerrymandered since the beginning, you really have no clue.
I have lived in states that are and so gerrymandered that no one can even determine which Congressional district they are in or may be in next census. And guess which party drew up those tortuous district lines. It starts with "D".
Amunaka can't provide a shred of verifiable evidence that anything he posted is true. If almost anything either of you posted was true, all three branches of government would be Republican. And all "57 states" would have Republican legislatures and Governors. Last I checked, they don't.
BTW - has Obama ever identified those other states? Did he get their electoral votes?
If people really are having difficulty getting the necessary legal documents to vote, because they don't have funds or don't know the process, I know their are plenty of people like me who would be willing to help. Is there some sort of organization that I can volunteer for of contribute to? Every American deserves to vote if they want to. I would like to know how we can help legal American's participate in the voting process.
Many states---especially for the "poor"--- give "vouchers" to those who are unable to purchase a State photo ID on their own. Those applying for any kind of State or Federal welfare benefits MUST have a Photo ID, and I believe if they are "destitute" the Social Services Offices will give-out "vouchers". At least my state will.