Holder: Justice Department Will Investigate Voter Disenfranchisement

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder spoke out against laws that disenfranchise voters, including a wave of Voter ID legislation, in a speech in Austin on Tuesday night.

“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?” Holder asked. “We need election systems that are free from fraud, discrimination, and partisan influence—and that are more, not less, accessible to the citizens of this country.”

Holder expressed concern over recent legislation that restricts valid voter identification and narrows the early voting window. He has received input, he said, from voters who feel the laws are efforts to limit voter turnout among low-income, student, and minority populations.

Research indicates that such laws do make it more challenging for these groups to cast their ballots. The wave of Voter ID legislation passed in recent years by conservative legislatures is also linked to the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a Koch-funded group that allows corporate leaders to funnel pre-drafted bills to elected officials.

(Read More About Voter Disenfranchisement at Campus Progress.)

Holder’s speech at the Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library & Museum carried some historical significance. In 1965, President Johnson signed into law the Voting Rights Act, which outlawed practices that discriminated against the voting rights of African Americans.

Focusing on that connection, Holder made racial justice a key point of the speech.

“Our efforts honor the generations of Americans who have taken extraordinary risks, and willingly confronted hatred, bias, and ignorance—as well as billy clubs and fire hoses, bullets and bombs—to ensure that their children, and all American citizens, would have the chance to participate in the work of their government,” Holder said. “The right to vote is not only the cornerstone of our system of government—it is the lifeblood of our democracy.”

Holder also spoke out against discriminatory redistricting practices, promising to apply Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act to prevent injustice.

The Justice Department, Holder said, is committed to reviewing Voter ID laws fairly. If a state “meets its burden of showing that the law is not discriminatory,” Holder said, the law will be approved. He also recognized concerns about voter fraud, but argued that making voter registration easier is on its own unlikely to make fraud more common.

Holder also appealed to constituents to resist partisan voter suppression efforts.

“Call on our political parties to resist the temptation to suppress certain votes in the hope of attaining electoral success and, instead, encourage and work with the parties to achieve this success by appealing to more voters,” Holder urged. “And urge policymakers at every level to reevaluate our election systems—and to reform them in ways that encourage, not limit, participation.”

New voter ID requirements have been met with resistance from civil rights advocacy groups. The American Civil Liberties Union recently filed a complaint in the state of Wisconsin on the behalf of individuals the organization says will be excluded by that state's new voter ID law.

Jon Christian is a staff writer with Campus Progress. Follow him on Twitter @Jon_Christian.

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