NAACP Taking Complaints About U.S. Voter Laws to United Nations

[WestVirginiaRebel]

Fox News:

The NAACP is calling on the United Nations to intervene as it claims state governments are colluding to "block the vote" for minority communities ahead of the 2012 election -- a charge those governments vehemently deny.

The nation's biggest civil rights organization this week released a report that claimed a raft of new voting laws at the state level would disenfranchise minority voters. The report said 14 states passed 25 measures "designed to restrict or limit the ballot access of voters of color."

The report catalogued several categories of laws that have been passed largely by Republican-dominated legislatures and which Democrats have decried in recent months as tools of voter suppression. The new laws include requirements to present photo ID at the polls, voting restrictions on felons and limitations on registration and early voting periods.

Supporters of the laws describe them as common-sense measures meant to ensure the integrity of elections. In Tennessee, which is implementing a new photo ID law, elections coordinator Mark Goins dismissed the criticism and questioned why the NAACP would flag the United Nations over its concerns, calling that effort "a bit extreme."

"I don't know what the benefit of going to the U.N. would be," he said. "I can't imagine any authority whatsoever that they would have here in Tennessee."

But the NAACP described the new measures as part of a "concerted" effort to drive down minority turnout and is planning a multi-stage campaign to attract international attention.

To start, the group is planning a "Stand 4 Freedom" rally this Saturday across from the U.N. headquarters. Supporters are being asked to sign an online pledge which, among other demands, calls on the United Nations to "investigate and condemn voter suppression tactics in the United States."
________

Which shows just how seriously to take the NAACP these days...