Attorney General Eric Holder pledged Tuesday to aggressively challenge new voter restriction efforts during a speech at the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in Houston, the New York Times reports.
“In our efforts to protect voting rights and to prevent voting fraud, we will be vigilant and strong,” Mr. Holder said. “But let me be clear: we will not allow political pretexts to disenfranchise American citizens of their most precious right.”
Holder’s speech comes as the Justice Department is in federal court over Texas’ photo ID voting requirement, which Holder says violates the Voting Rights Act and disproportionately impacts minorities, young people and the elderly, according to the New York Times.
Holder pledged to vigorously enforce civil rights violations.
“The arc of American history has always moved toward expanding the electorate,” he said. “It is what has made this nation exceptional. We will simply not allow this era to be the beginning of the reversal of that historic progress.”
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