State legislation drafted ostensibly to prevent voter fraud could prevent thousands of African Americans from voting this year

From [HERE] The US attorney general, Eric Holder, has warned that gains of the civil rights struggle hang in the balance in the face of a determined effort by many states to roll back laws ensuring the right to vote.

Holder told a Washington conference on Wednesday that there is a "growing need to protect the voting rights of every eligible citizen" amid a flurry of legislation and executive orders in US states ostensibly to prevent election fraud with measures such as requiring proof of identity in order to vote.

The meeting was told the laws are intended to prevent African Americans in particular from voting because because nearly one in four black people lack photo identification.

A Congressman from North Carolina, GK Butterfield, said that if new requirements for voter identification and proof of citizenship in many states, and restrictions on groups mobilising people to vote, had been in place four years ago they would have been likely to cost Barack Obama the presidency.