Jackson and Civil Rights Advocates Condemn New Voting Laws
Wednesday, July 13, 2011 at 2:12PMBy Philip Bunnell
Rev. Jesse Jackson joined other civil rights advocates and lawmakers at the House Triangle in front of the Capitol this morning to decry new laws in some states that require voters to present government issued ID when coming to the polls. Jackson and his fellow speakers called the laws “draconian” and said that they were meant to discourage minorities from voting.
In a letter to Eric Holder, the Attorney General, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) warned that “about 1 million of [Texas’s] 13.5 million registered voters lack photo identification documentation and would be harmed by this proposal.” Texas recently passed a law that requires voters to present identification.
The advocates dismissed the laws’ purported purpose, to stop voter fraud, as a minor problem that forcing someone to present identification cannot stop.
Instead, the advocates attested, the laws throw barriers in front of voters who usually vote Democrat. “In Texas for example,” Jackson said, “students cannot use a student ID but can use a gun registration ID.”
Jesse Jackson accused the proponents of the laws of instituting a new poll tax. Voters without identification would have to purchase one. Jackson pointed out that “we don’t mind ID, but ID may be a utility bill,” or some other form of documentation that does not cost money.
New Workers' Rights Bill Will Pass This Year, Sen. Menendez Predicts
Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) said on Wednesday that the Protect Our Workers from Exploitation and Retailation (POWER) Act is under review and is likely to get the 60 votes in November 2010.
"It may very well be in November the lame duck session, when members, who have retired or not going to run again, whose heart and mind says this is the right thing but maybe whose politics says to them no, would be willing to vote," said Menendez.
The POWER Act essentially seeks to prevent employers from using deportation as a threat against immigrant workers.
Menendez, who introduced the bill Wednesday, was joined by civil rights leader Jessie Jackson and a number of other activists.
"This bill will help our economy by making sure American workers and immigrant workers are treated fairly alike," Menendez added.