AUSTIN - The nation's top law enforcement official drew attention to two of the state's hot-button political issues - redistricting and voter ID laws - telling a Texas audience Tuesday night that making it harder to vote "goes against the arc of history."

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder criticized recent efforts in Texas and other states that have passed restrictive election laws, saying voting rights instead should be expanded. Holder was speaking at the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library, which houses the late president's official records and memorabilia, including the landmark Voting Rights Act that the Texas president signed nearly 47 years ago.

Making frequent references to Johnson's legacy on voting rights, Holder encouraged the audience to "speak out. Raise awareness of what's at stake."

He said strict voter ID laws cut early voting periods. And he was critical of using the redistricting process to choose lawmakers instead of creating districts that allow voters to choose their representatives.

"All citizens should be automatically registered to vote," Holder said, suggesting that states should modernize out-of-date paper registration systems.

"The single biggest barrier to vote in this country is our antiquated voting system," he said.

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-San Antonio, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, defended the state's actions and took issue with Holder's speech.

"Voter identification laws are constitutional and necessary to prevent fraud at the ballot box," Cornyn said. "Facing an election challenge next year, this administration has chosen to target efforts by the states to protect the democratic process."

Passed in 1965

Voting rights have remained controversial since the civil rights marches and demonstrations in the 1960s. President Johnson implored Congress to pass the Voting Rights Act during a historic speech on March 15, 1965.

"It is wrong, deadly wrong to deny any of your fellow Americans the right to vote in this country," Johnson told Congress.

The speech may have been the most important message that Johnson ever delivered, said Mark Updegrove, director of the LBJ Library.

Congress passed the legislation five months later.

New maps a target

Holder accused Texas Republicans of disregarding the Voting Rights Act when drawing new political maps earlier this year.

Minorities will be worse off under new maps for congressional and state House seats even though they accounted for 89 percent of the state's population growth over the past 10 years. The state will gain four new congressional seats but minorities will not increase their congressional representatives under the new map, he said.

Holder said his department will "argue vigorously" that the proposed map violates Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act.

"The state has failed to show the absence of discrimination," Holder said, drawing audience applause.

Review pending

Because of historic discrimination against minorities, Texas and other Southern states face special scrutiny under the Voting Rights Act, which requires those states to get approval from the Justice Department or a Washington, D.C.-based federal court before making any changes affecting elections.

The Justice Department has not approved the voting ID measure. It is waiting for demographic information on the number of registered voters in each Texas county - by race and Spanish surname - who have a Texas driver's license or other photo identification issued by the Texas Department of Public Safety.

Holder said the department's review of Texas' voter ID law "will be thorough and fair. We will examine the facts and apply the law."

The new law would require voters to show a Texas driver's license or a DPS-issued photo ID card before they could cast a ballot.

Courts step in

Republicans pushed the voter ID measure to ensure voters are properly identified and eligible to vote. Democrats argued that there is no evidence of voter fraud in Texas and that the bill simply makes it harder for low-income Texans, students and the elderly - who typically support Democrats - to vote.

The U.S. Supreme Court last week put a hold on Texas redistricting maps pending a hearing next month. Lower courts declined to approve the Republican-drawn maps, which resulted in three federal judges drawing temporary districts for the March 6 primary elections. However, the high court's ruling could delay elections for the state's congressional and legislative offices.

gscharrer@express-news.net