US election 2020: Former president calls for end to voter suppression

Special Desk

Amid rising voices for the US elections 2020, former President Barack Obama has criticised what he described as Republican attempts at voter suppression.

In a speech at civil rights leader John Lewis’s funeral Obama said people in power were attacking our voting rights with surgical precision and called for wide reform. He also decried the police killing of George Floyd and the subsequent use of federal agents against protesters.

He was one of the “Big Six” civil rights leaders, which included Martin Luther King Jr, and helped organise the historic 1963 March on Washington.

Obama singled out the role of the US postal service in delivering postal votes amid the corona virus pandemic. Earlier on Thursday Trump suggested the 2020 presidential election in November should be delayed because he said – without providing evidence – that postal voting would enable large-scale voter fraud.

However, top Republicans have rejected President Donald Trump’s suggestion that November’s presidential election should be delayed over alleged fraud concerns.

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Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy both dismissed the idea. Trump does not have the authority to postpone the election, as any delay would have to be approved by Congress.

Earlier, the president suggested that increased postal voting could lead to fraud and inaccurate results. He floated a delay until people could “properly, securely and safely” vote. There is little evidence to support Mr Trump’s claims but he has long railed against postal voting, which he has said would be susceptible to fraud.

US states want to make mail-in voting easier because of public health concerns over the corona virus pandemic.
In a fiery eulogy delivered in Ebeneezer Baptist Church in the city of Atlanta, Mr Obama, a Democrat, launched a stinging attack on Republican President Donald Trump’s administration and some police departments.