NAACP takes U.S. to U.N. Human Rights Council over voting laws

Posted By Joshua Keating Friday, March 9, 2012 - 4:11 PM Share

Next week, the NAACP is taking the unusual step of bringing a complaint to the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva over voter identification laws, passed in several states, which they say constitute voting rights violations. As William Douglas reports, this isn't a new tactic for the group: 

The Geneva appearance is part of an NAACP strategy rooted in the 1940s and 1950s, when the group looked to the United Nations and the international community for support in its domestic battle for civil rights for blacks and against lynching.

"It was in 1947 that W.E.B. Dubois delivered his speech and appealed to the world at the U.N.," NAACP president Benjamin Todd Jealous said Thursday. "Now, like then, the principal concern is voting rights. The past year more states in this country have passed more laws pushing more voters out of the ballot box than any point since Jim Crow."


Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2012/03/08/141250/naacp-to-challenge-state-voting.html#storylink=cpy

The changes in question this time around are new laws that would require photo identification or proof of citizenship before people cast ballots, as well as proposals to eliminate same-day voter registration and rescind the voting rights of convicted felons who have served their time. The NAACP says these laws are restrcition similar to the poll taxes and literacy tests that once prevented blacks from voting in U.S. elections. 

Of course, UNHCR resolutions don't carry legal weight in the United States, but Jealous is looking to make a global statement.

Some more background on the NAACP's 1947 U.N. effort here.

Mario Tama/Getty Images

 

BYOUNG

11:20 AM ET

March 11, 2012

Posturing and Hypocrisy...

Most international organizations - including many associated with the UN - view voter and citizenship identification as a key factor in legitimizing elections. For the NAACP to argue against a procedure that increases the legitimacy of an election is appalling, and should rightly be summarily rejected by the U.N. Human Rights Council.
Same-day voter registration does not carry the same weight internationally; however, allowing same-day registration does increase voter fraud overall.
The issue of convicted felons is a purely political question. The United States arbitrarily prevents 16 or 17 year olds as well as non-citizens from voting, why not felons? The only concern over age, citizenship, or criminal past is whether the majority of society is convinced that acceptable reasons exist to exclude those individuals. Because it could be easily argued that teenagers under 18 have done nothing to violate society's norms, they have more claim to a voting right than those who have - convicted felons (even if they have served their time, they still engaged in an act against society.)
I am certain the U.N. Human Rights Council will, true to history and form, provide some ruling that will make good press for the NAACP. I am also certain that the members of the U.S. Congress and Executive, will ignore said ruling in favor of the legitimate rule of law.

 

MAXIMB

1:31 PM ET

March 19, 2012

your talking about unstable

your talking about unstable governments that will be overthrown next week wanting to pursue things like nuclear power and things of that nature. So day to day or week to week your having diplomatic relations with a new regime and a new policy reneging on any previous deals referring to economics so they continue to receive trade and never wright a check for imports and in the end turns out to be a long chain of blood money so how long do you play with them.

"Is rio orange war always forfait mobile internet inevitable ?"
MaximB

 

MAXIMB

8:59 AM ET

March 22, 2012

hello. Bismarck pursude the

hello. Bismarck pursude the idea of a 'free' Germany, independent from those 'tainted' people living in Austria. I refer you to the Franco-Prussian Wars. a large part of these endeavors were to REMOVE Austria from the northern areas, near France/England. hard thought, but true. ; {.

"Is rio orange war always sms illimite inevitable ?"
MaximB

 

MAXIMB

11:20 PM ET

March 22, 2012

Sure if brushing your teeth

Sure if brushing your teeth makes you a dentist. Sara Palin is a joke and is a slap in the face to US citizens that she was even considered for VP..

"Is rio orange war always forfait sans engagement inevitable ?"
MaximB

 

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