Rick Perry: Eric Holder's voter ID comments an attempt to incite racial tension

Eric Holder's remarks last week that voter ID laws are a modern-day version of a poll tax are receiving criticism from Texas governor Rick Perry...

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Eric Holder’s remarks last week that voter ID laws are a modern-day version of a poll tax are receiving criticism from Texas governor Rick Perry. The Huffington Post reports that Perry has asked President Barack Obama to repudiate the Attorney General for what he considers to be an attempt by to inflame racial tensions.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry said that Attorney General Eric Holder’s remarks last week calling his state’s voter ID laws “poll taxes” were an attempt to incite racial tension and called on President Barack Obama to repudiate them.

“In labeling the Texas voter ID law as a ‘poll tax,’ Eric Holder purposefully used language designed to inflame passions and incite racial tension,” Perry wrote in a statement. “It was not only inappropriate, but simply incorrect on its face.”

The Republican governor called the law “common sense” and said the president should apologize for Holder’s insulting comments.

Holder made the comments last week during the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People’s annual conference in Houston. The attorney general said, “Many of those without IDs would have to travel great distances to get them — and some would struggle to pay for the documents they might need to obtain them.”

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