US Elections: Obama Warns, Voting Rights Under Threat

Barack Obama

WASHINGTON, Aug 1 (NNN-AGENCIES) – Former U.S. President, Barack Obama, delivered an eulogy for the late U.S. congressman, John Lewis’ funeral on Thursday, warning that the voting rights, the late civil rights icon championed, are threatened, heading into the 2020 election.

“There are those in power doing their darnedest to discourage people from voting, by closing polling locations and targeting minorities and students with restrictive ID laws and attacking our voting rights with surgical precision, even undermining the postal service, in an election that’s going to be dependent on mail-in ballots, so people don’t get sick,” Obama said.

Obama called for the automatic registration of all voters, restoring voting rights to inmates, who have completed their sentences, ending partisan gerrymandering of districts and making Election Day a national holiday.

U.S. President, Donald Trump, raised the possibility of delaying the presidential election in Nov, alleging that “universal mail-in voting” will make the 2020 election “the most inaccurate and fraudulent in history.”

Lewis, who had fought for voting rights throughout his 33 years in Congress, died earlier this month, at age 80, after a battle with pancreatic cancer.