Mayor Johnny Ford to Speak-Out on Voting Rights Act

Staff Report

MONTGOMERY — Today at 10:00 Tuskegee Mayor Johnny Ford will hold a press conference on the steps of the Alabama State House to praise the Obama administration for its efforts to reinstate the Voting Rights Act. The following is a statement from Mayor Ford:

“I want to publicly commend the U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder for what he is doing in Texas. When we met with the White House last week they said that they were going to enforce the Voting Rights Act, by making sure that the rights of all voters were protected, and that is what they are doing.  We want Alabama to be the next state.”

“While Alabama’s voter ID law will prevent many legitimate voters from exercising their constitutional right to vote, and should be addressed by the U.S. Attorney General, the fact that citizens of Macon County have had their voting rights nullified by State Attorney General Luther Strange, needs to be addressed as well.  He closed our gaming industry that existed as the result of a constitutional amendment that we voted on and approved. Now here he is expressing his determination to enforce Alabama’s voter ID law that ‘pretends’ to be protecting the sanctity of the vote, when he himself has violated the sanctity of the vote of the people of Macon County. That is why we are requesting the U.S. Justice Department to intervene in the case that we have against him now in the Federal Court:  Ford vs. Strange.”

“The Justice Department recently intervened on behalf of the Native Americans in their case against the State of Alabama.  Surely we African Americans, having suffered slavery and segregation, as a people, and a history of years of continued discrimination in all areas of life in Alabama deserve federal intervention on our behalf.  That is why, in addition to commending the U.S. Attorney General on his action in Texas, I am requesting equal time to respond to the statements by Luther Strange about that action, and about the possibility of federal action being taken here in Alabama to protect the voting rights of all our citizens.”