Civil Rights Coalition Praises Holder for Addressing Restrictive Voting Laws

AUSTIN, Texas — Wade Henderson, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, issued the following statement in advance of Attorney General Holder’s speech on restrictive state voting laws:

“I’m honored to attend the Attorney General’s speech tonight as he addresses the coordinated assault on the quintessential civil right – the right to vote. Tonight’s speech couldn’t have come at a more important time.

Proponents of voter suppression have launched the most sophisticated, well-coordinated attack on voting rights in the modern era. Their goal is simple – to suppress the vote of African Americans, Latinos, people with disabilities, low-income people, American Indians, Asian Americans, young people, seniors, and other constituencies that support progressive policies. 

The poll taxes and literacy tests of an earlier era are today embodied in state laws that require photo IDs to vote and that limit early voting, provisional voting and voter registration. If groups like ALEC — the American Legislative Exchange Council — can suppress roughly five per cent of the vote in five key states, the outcome of the 2012 election is foretold.

The Department of Justice is not standing idle while groups like ALEC turn back the clock on voting rights, and neither is the civil rights community.”

Wade Henderson is the president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, a coalition charged by its diverse membership of more than 200 national organizations to promote and protect the rights of all persons in the United States. The Leadership Conference works toward an America as good as its ideals. For more information on The Leadership Conference and its 200-plus member organizations, visit www.civilrights.org.

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