Thousands protest limits on voter rights

Several thousand people, including civil rights activists and faith leaders, marched through midtown Manhattan Saturday to protest laws restricting voting rights.

The laws, touted as election fraud safeguards, have been enacted by more than a dozen states and are being considered in at least 20 more, protest organizers said. The measures include restrictions on early voting, stringent registration and ballot box photo ID requirements, and voting bans for ex-felons.

"These are all measures that impact more directly on poor people and people of color, and their ability to make it to the polls," said John Payton, president of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.

The Brennan Center for Justice at NYU's School of Law says the stricter voting laws disproportionately impact young adults, minorities, and low-income and disabled people. No law has been enacted in New York.

The march, joined by Occupy Wall Street protesters, started outside the New York offices of Koch Industries.

The billionaire Koch brothers, David and Charles, have funded the American Legislative Exchange Council, which has helped draft much of the recent restrictive voting legislation.

In a statement, Koch Industries said it has taken no position on the voter laws and cited its "long and steadfast track record of supporting voter registration drives." The company is one of the nation's largest privately held companies with business interests that include refining and commodities trading.

The Rev. Al Sharpton, United Federation of Teachers president Michael Mulgrew, Rep Charles Rangel (D-Harlem) and Hazel Dukes, head of the NAACP's New York State conference, locked arms to lead marchers to a plaza near the United Nations in honor of UN Human Rights Day. There, others joined the throng.

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), dressed in a sweatsuit, bicycled in from Brooklyn to show his support.

"They say they're trying to protect us from voter fraud, but when we ask them for evidence of the fraud, they can't find it," Schumer said of the forces behind the initiatives. "The truth is, they don't want poor people, senior citizens, the young and people of color to vote."

The Rev. Roderick Pearson, head of the NAACP's Islip branch, believes the laws are intended to keep President Barack Obama from being re-elected.

"This country came together like never before in 2008 and they do not want him to succeed," he said. "Well, we've been through too many struggles to give up our rights without a fight."