AG Holder vows to enforce civil rights protections

AG Holder vows to enforce civil rights protections

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Attorney General Eric Holder is vowing to fully enforce civil rights protections in next year’s elections.

The comments today in Austin, Texas, came amid a flurry of activity by states to redraw political boundaries and impose requirements that could reduce voting by minorities who enthusiastically supported Barack Obama in the 2008 election.

In his most expansive speech on civil rights since taking office, the nation’s chief law enforcement officer declared today that “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.”

He urged the country to “call on our political parties to resist the temptation to suppress certain votes in the hope of attaining electoral success.”