Merrick Garland slams voter ID laws as ‘discriminatory’ and ‘unnecessary’
By
Peyton Sorosinski
March 4, 2024 2:10 pm
Attorney General Merrick Garland pledged to challenge what he called voting restrictions implemented by Republican lawmakers that he said were “discriminatory, burdensome, and unnecessary.”
Garland spoke alongside Vice President Kamala Harris on Sunday in Selma, Alabama, at the city’s 59th anniversary of the 1965 civil rights event dubbed “Bloody Sunday,” the day when Alabama police officers beat up voting rights demonstrators protesting in 1965. There, Garland brought up the history of black voting rights, claiming that the “right to vote is still under attack.”
“There are many things that are open to debate in America,” Garland said Sunday in front of the Tabernacle Baptist Church. “One thing that must not be open for debate is the right of all eligible citizens to vote and to have their vote counted.”
Garland has said that Supreme Court decisions have weakened the 1965 Voting Rights Act. He added that some voter ID laws and redistricting maps have put minority groups at a disadvantage, saying that voting restrictions “threaten the foundation of our system of government.”
“That is why the Justice Department is fighting back,” Garland said Sunday in front of the church. “That is why one of the first things I did when I came into office was to double the size of the voting section of the civil rights division. That is why we are challenging efforts by states and jurisdictions to implement discriminatory, burdensome, and unnecessary restrictions on access to the ballot, including those related to mail-in voting, the use of drop boxes, and voter ID requirements.”
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/2901337/merrick-garland-slams-voter-id-laws-as-discriminatory-unnecessary/