U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder is currently blocking implementation of voter ID laws in South Carolina and Texas. It’s the latest battle in the fight for voter integrity at the ballot box and the reason two supporters of voter ID are launching a robust defense the laws.
“We believe this offensive by the Justice Department must be met with a counteroffensive,” said Ken Blackwell, Ohio’s former secretary of state. He is working on the project with Ken Klukowski, a fellow with the American Civil Rights Union and faculty member at Liberty University’s School of Law. The two will launch their project in the coming days.
Blackwell and Klukowski warn that liberals will stop at nothing in their quest to topple voter ID laws. The NAACP has even brought the issue to the U.N. Human Rights Council, an organization whose members include China, Cuba and Russia. Blackwell previously served as U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Human Rights Commission, the organization’s predecessor.
Listen to the interview with Blackwell and Klukowski on Scribecast
Klukowski believes the Holder’s actions against South Carolina on Texas are driven purely by politics to “gin up an electoral base to drive turnout on Election Day.” He noted that Holder is only blocking laws in states subject to Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, a civil rights-era law that gives the Department of Justice authority over voting changes.
“The Obama-Holder Department of Justice has launched an all-out war on voter ID and other measures,” Blackwell said. “Although Holder’s actions are purported to prevent African-Americans from being disenfranchised, in reality they serve as a crass political attempt to ensure his boss gets re-elected this year.”
The U.S. Supreme Court upheld Indiana’s voter ID law in 2008. Klukowski said that decision even had the backing of liberal Justice John Paul Stevens. The laws in South Carolina and Texas are similar to the one in Indiana.
The podcast runs about 10 minutes. It was produced with the help of Hannah Sternberg. Listen to previous interviews on Scribecast or subscribe to future episodes.
