David Jackson

USA TODAY

Donald Trump marked the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday Monday by meeting with the son of the civil rights icon, engaging in a conversation about making it easier for people to vote.

Martin Luther King III said he had an "extraordinarily constructive conversation" with the president-elect about a "broken voting system," and that Trump listened to his idea of providing free voter identification cards to all Americans.

"It is very clear that the system is not working at its maximum," King said.

Prior to the meeting, Trump himself tweeted about the holiday: "Celebrate Martin Luther King Day and all of the many wonderful things that he stood for. Honor him for being the great man that he was!"

Trump and other Republican lawmakers have endorsed so-called "Voter ID laws" that require people to provide forms of identification before being allowed to vote; critics say those laws are designed to block voting by African-Americans and other minorities.

King's idea is to have the government provide identification cards to all eligible voters.

The meeting took place four days before Trump's swearing-in as the nation's 45th president, and amid a dispute with another civil rights figure, U.S. Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga.

Over the weekend, Lewis described Trump as an illegitimate president, citing Russian efforts to sabotage Hillary Clinton's campaign during the presidential campaign; Trump fired back on Twitter, calling Lewis "all talk" and "no action."

King declined to get drawn into the Lewis-Trump dispute, saying he wanted to be a "bridge builder" in a divided nation.

"In the heat of emotion, a lot of things get said on both sides," King said.

Asked what his father might have said to the president-elect, King cited another issue: Poverty.

"I think my father would be very concerned about that fact that we have 50 to 60 million people living in poverty, and somehow we've got to create the climate for all boats to be lifted," King said. "It's insanity that we have poor people in this nation. That’s unacceptable."

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