Democrats are getting ready for a major fight this fall over access to the polls, which the party believes could be a critical issue toward determining congressional majorities in the midterm elections. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), the chairman of the Senate Democrats’ campaign arm, pointed out recent efforts to limit turnout by likely Democratic voters in Texas, Ohio and Indiana — three Senate battlegrounds. “A number of states have already acted. Texas put in place a set of additional restrictions,” Van Hollen said in an interview on C-SPAN’s “Newsmakers.” Hilary Shelton, the director of the Washington bureau of the NAACP, a nonpartisan group, said voting rights are under greater threat in 2018 compared to recent elections because of Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
Under Sessions, the Department of Justice dropped its opposition to a voter ID law in Texas and to efforts in Ohio to cull names from voting rolls.
During his confirmation hearing last year, Sessions said the Supreme Court found the Voting Rights Act “intrusive” when it struck down a key section of the law in 2013.
Full Article: Democrats gear up for legal fights over voter suppression | TheHill.