In an interview on PBS NewsHour following his speech commemorating the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington yesterday, President Obama said that he would “move administratively” to block state laws “that seem to be intent on preventing people from voting and that have a racial element to it.”
In a reference to his Department of Justice’s suing the state of Texas over its voter-ID law, Obama said: “Congress doesn’t move real quickly around here, and if we can go ahead and move administratively so that our attorney general can go ahead in jurisdictions that seem to be intent on preventing people from voting and that have a racial element to it, even though largely it’s probably for partisan reasons, then we need to go ahead and — and enforce the law.”
His comments echoed a line in his speech yesterday calling for “vigilance” against “those who erect new barriers to the vote.”