Colin Powell slams North Carolina voting law

[frigidmagi]

Politico

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell bashed North Carolina’s recent voting law at a forum in the state Thursday, with the governor that signed the bill in the audience.

Powell said the law harms the Republican Party at the CEO Forum in Raleigh, N.C., according to the Raleigh News and Observer.

“It immediately turns off a voting block the Republican Party needs,” Powell said. “These kinds of actions do not build on the base. It just turns people away. … I want to see policies that encourage every American to vote, not make it more difficult to vote.”

The former George W. Bush administration official was the keynote speaker at the event, and took the stage just moments after Gov. Pat McCrory, who signed and defended the bill this month.

The bill requires voters to show government-issued ID, shortens early voting and ends early pre-registration for teens, among other changes. Civil rights groups have already challenged the law in federal courts.

Thursday, Powell said the bill sends a bad message to minorities.

“What it really says to the minority voters is … ‘We really are sort-of punishing you,’” Powell said.

Powell also took aim at defenders of the law, including McCrory, who say such restrictions are necessary to stop voter fraud, which is hard to detect.

“You can say what you like, but there is no voter fraud,” Powell said. “How can it be widespread and undetected?”

[rhoenix]

Ouch.

That was an elbow to the face for this whole "voter fraud" cause that some Republicans are trumpeting. This might get interesting.