Election Reform Advocates Call on Texas Legislators to Abandon Controversial, Restrictive Voter Identification Proposals

AUSTIN, TX – The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) and a coalition of voting rights groups including Advocacy Inc, the ACLU of Texas, APIAVote, Asian American Action Fund, Asian American Justice Center, the Coalition of Texans with Disabilities, Common Cause Texas, League of Women Voters of Texas, OCA Greater Houston Chapter, People For the American Way, Southwest Voter Registration Education Project, Texans Together Education Fund, Texas AFL-CIO, Texas LULAC (HOPE), Texas NAACP, and the William C. Velasquez Institute called on the Texas Legislature to abandon the controversial voter identification policy proposal that resulted in a partisan stalemate during the 2009 Texas Legislative session.

Senate Votes to Confirm Thomas E. Perez as Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Division, U.S. Department of Justice

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the U.S. Senate voted 72 to 22 to confirm Maryland Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez as the nation’s Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights at the Department of Justice. The confirmation is long overdue in light of the fact that our nation requires a strong leader for the division after eight years of little civil rights enforcement.