from aclu eml

This Monday, the Justice Department will make a big decision. And, we need you to act immediately so that it will be a decision that protects voting rights.

The ACLU has been sounding the alarm about a wave of laws passed across the country aimed at throwing roadblocks in the path of people trying to exercise their right to vote. One particularly offensive voter ID law was recently enacted in South Carolina — a state with a history of racial discrimination in voting. That state's voting law changes must be approved by the Department of Justice before they can take effect.

A decision is due on South Carolina's highly discriminatory voter ID law by August 29th. There are 178,000 people — a disproportionate number of them low-income and African-Americans — registered to vote in South Carolina whose right to vote is under threat because they don't have government-issued photo IDs.

Urge Attorney General Holder to enforce the Voting Rights Act and refuse to clear South Carolina's outrageous effort to make it harder for citizens to exercise their right to vote.

The South Carolina decision will tell us just how aggressively the Department of Justice intends to protect one of our most fundamental freedoms — the right to cast a ballot for the candidates of our choice.

This wave of voter suppression laws is a thinly-disguised effort to shape the electorate for the critically important 2012 elections. Purposely making it harder for some segments of the voting population to cast their vote is a cynical political strategy that can never be tolerated.

In the months ahead, we're going to have to fight in state after state to protect voting rights. But, it all starts with the impending South Carolina decision.

Urge the Justice Department to take a strong stand in defense of voting rights by refusing to clear the way for South Carolina's outrageous effort to suppress the vote.

Remember, this key decision could come at any time in the next few days. So, please urge the Attorney General and the Justice Department to actively protect voting rights today.

i put the 4th paragraph from the bottom into bold type. it's a key analysis of the hypocritical right wing strategy of voter suppression.