Presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton will call for an in-person early voting period of at least 20 days in every state in a speech in Texas on Thursday, according to her campaign.
Clinton, who will appear at Texas Southern University, a historically black college, also will urge lawmakers to restore the Voting Rights Act after the Supreme Court struck down a key portion of law in 2013 that could reduce minority voting.
She will criticize the “destructive impact of restrictive laws” in some states, including Texas, North Carolina, Wisconsin and Ohio that she says makes it harder for voters to cast their ballots.
Instead, she will call for 20 days of early voting, including opportunities to cast ballots on the weekend and evenings. Early voting, Clinton will say, would reduce long lines and give more voters a chance to participate, especially those who have work or family obligations that make it difficult to get to the polls on Election Day, according to her campaign. She will say early voting is more secure, reliable and affordable for states to implement than absentee voting.
In 2013, a divided court struck down a centerpiece of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. It required some states to receive federal approval for electoral revisions.
Under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, some states and jurisdictions had to secure approval from the Justice Department before they change any voting practice. That could have cover everything from buying new voting machines and closing polling places to requiring photo identification and shifting district boundaries.
A related section, Section 4, provides the formula for determining which political jurisdictions must meet the approval. The justices struck down this section as unconstitutional.
Democrats are working to defeat some of Republican-enacted restrictions in certain states. The effort is being led by a lawyer whose clients include Clinton.
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