[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 11]
[House]
[Page 15516]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           VOTER SUPPRESSION

  (Mr. HOLT asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. HOLT. Madam Speaker, this year a number of States are taking 
steps to make it more difficult for citizens to register to vote, to 
limit early voting, and to require photo IDs at the polls. The 
proponents of these new laws argue that they are designed to combat 
voter fraud. Clearly, we don't want people voting illegally, but these 
new laws are a solution to a problem that does not exist, and these 
steps will create serious problems.
  A recent report by the Brennan Center at NYU shows that these new 
laws would affect more than 5 million eligible voters and would 
disproportionately disenfranchise young, low-income, and minority 
citizens.
  In the past, literacy tests and poll taxes were used selectively to 
allow certain citizens to vote and disenfranchise others. They were and 
are illegal, and they should remain so. So we must oppose 21st century 
poll taxes which seek to suppress the vote of eligible voters and deny 
them their constitutional rights and weaken our democracy.

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