New voter-ID cases viewed as partisan

— House Republicans on Thursday criticized the Justice Department’s decision to challenge new voter-ID laws in several states.

Lawmakers contend the Obama administration is more concerned with Democrats winning in November than protecting against election fraud.

“The Department of Justice has embarrassed itself,” said Rep. Trent Franks, RAriz. “The partisan bias is obvious.”

Thomas Perez, the department’s chief civil-rights enforcer, denied any partisan bias or motivation for filing federal-court challenges under the Voting Rights Act to recently passed voter-ID laws in Texas and South Carolina.

In both states, Republican controlled legislatures passed laws requiring voters to show government-issued photo identification to vote. The Justice Department indicated this week that it also is looking at whether Pennsylvania’s new voter-ID law violates the Voting Rights Act.

Front Section, Pages 3 on 07/27/2012

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