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NAACP
convention
to
tackle
new
voting
laws
By JUAN
A.
LOZANO
Associated
Press
HOUSTON
(AP) --
The
National
Association
for the
Advancement
of
Colored
People
says its
newest
battle
is
really
an old
one.
This
year's
NAACP
national
convention,
which
kicks
off this
weekend
in
Houston,
is
focusing
on voter
participation
and the
civil
rights
organization's
efforts
to fight
what it
sees as
restrictive
voting
laws
that
have
been
passed
by
various
states
the last
few
years.
Between
6,000
and
7,000
members
are
expected
to
attend
the
group's
103rd
convention.
Vice
President
Joe
Biden,
Attorney
General
Eric
Holder
and Mitt
Romney,
the
presumptive
Republican
presidential
nominee,
are
among
the
scheduled
speakers.
The
theme of
the
convention,
which
starts
Saturday
and runs
through
July 12,
is
"NAACP:
Your
Power,
Your
Decision
- Vote."
NAACP
officials
said
their
main
priority
this
year is
making
sure
that
everyone,
regardless
of race,
creed or
economic
status,
will
have the
right to
vote
during
this
fall's
elections.
Since
2010, at
least 10
states,
including
Texas,
have
passed
laws
requiring
people
to show
a
government-issued
photo
identification
card
when
they go
to the
polls.
Supporters
of such
laws
have
said
showing
an ID
will
prevent
voter
fraud.
But
opponents
say
requiring
an ID
could
suppress
voter
turnout
among
poor,
elderly
and
minority
voters
who are
less
likely
to have
a
driver's
license
or
passport.
Leon
Russell,
vice
chairman
of the
NAACP's
national
board of
directors,
compared
the
recent
voting
laws to
poll
taxes or
literacy
tests
from the
19th
century
that
disenfranchised
black
voters.
"The
effort
to
suppress
the vote
is not a
new
thing.
It's
something
that's
been
around,"
he said
during a
news
conference
Friday.
"What we
have
seen in
the last
two
years
though
is the
most
egregious
effort
to
compound
and
collect
every
single
method
that
anybody
could
think of
that
would
discourage
someone
to vote
and put
it into
a piece
of
legislation
and
inflict
them on
our
communities."
Russell
said his
organization's
efforts
are not
partisan.
Voter ID
laws are
often
passed
by
Republicans
and
opposed
by
Democrats.
University
of
Houston
history
professor
Tyrone
Tillery
said the
issue of
battling
voter ID
laws is
one that
fits
with the
NAACP's
history
of
helping
disenfranchised
voters.
"It
plays to
their
strengths,"
said
Tillery,
who
specializes
in 20th
century
African-American
history
and was
a former
NAACP
director
in
Detroit
in 1989.
Russell
said the
NAACP is
focused
on
working
with
other
civil
rights
groups
in the
Hispanic,
Asian
and gay
and
lesbian
communities.
"We
can't
just
work on
behalf
of one
segment
of the
population,"
he said.
"Our
focus
will be
the
black
community.
But we
can't
create
anything
that
impacts
only the
black
community.
Our
103-year
history
shows
that
when we
get
legislation
adopted,
it is
policy
that has
impacted
all
Americans.
That
continues
to be
our
purpose."
Other
issues
NAACP
officials
plan to
discuss
at the
convention
include
the
federal
health
care law
that was
upheld
last
month by
the U.S.
Supreme
Court
and
efforts
to
repeal
stand-your-ground
laws
around
the
country
in the
wake of
the
February
fatal
shooting
of
Trayvon
Martin.
George
Zimmerman,
a
neighborhood
watch
volunteer,
is
citing
Florida's
stand-your-ground
law in
his
defense
in the
teenager's
death.
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