In his interview with the New York Times on Friday, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul might have ruffled some Republican feathers with his comments about the proposal to introduce more tougher voter ID and other related laws. He told the newspaper that "going "too crazy" on the matter would affect the GOP's chances to secure minority votes.
"Everybody's gone completely crazy on this voter ID thing. I think it's wrong for Republicans to go too crazy on this issue because it's offending people," Paul said.
The Times said Paul is among the few, and the most prominent from his party who has distanced himself from the campaign to impose more stringent voting laws to curb fraud at the polls. The Republicans are reportedly eager to pass them in the states that they have control, which include North Carolina, Ohio and Wisconsin. On the other hand, civil rights groups had called the laws a transparent effort in reducing voting turnout from the black minority. Moreover, the opponents to the voter ID law said that voter fraud is not the real problem.
The Times said that despite the comments he made against the voter ID law, Paul fell short on denouncing more stringent voting restrictions. Moreover, he did not also take back his previous statements in which he had stated that it was unreasonable for voters to produce proof of identification at the polls. He suggested instead that the GOP should be tone deaf on the issue.
In an interesting twist, the Times said Paul has publicly laid plans to restore voting privileges for felons, of which is reportedly another issue of concern of African-Americans.
"The bigger issue actually is whether you get to vote if you have a felony conviction. There's 180,000 people in Kentucky who can't vote. And I don't know the racial breakdown, but it's probably more black than white because they're convicted felons. And I'm for getting their right to vote back, which is a much bigger deal than showing your driver's license," Paul said.
