CHRIS HAYES (HOST): So in just the past two weeks, courts struck down restrictions on voters in five different states. Today in Texas, the state reached a deal to weaken its voter I.D. law for the elections in November after a federal appeals court ruled that the drafters of the bill knew it would disproportionately affect minorities. Writing for the majority, one judge wrote that “it would be untenable to permit a law with a discriminatory effect to remain in operation.” Then in North Dakota, a federal judge blocked the state’s voter I.D. law on Monday, writing, “the record is replete with concrete evidence of significant burdens on Native American voters.” Last Friday, similar rulings loosening voter restrictions were handed out in Kansas, Wisconsin and North Carolina. The court noting in a latter case, the law had specific provisions to, quote, “target African-Americans with almost surgical precision.”
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ZACHARY ROTH: There has been this sort of deep-rooted skepticism about democracy, going back to the founders, through the 19th century, seeing conservative rhetoric up into the 20th century. It seemed to go away after the passage of the Voting Rights Act. But Obama's ability to mobilize minorities and other marginalized voters has sort of resurfaced these fears. You showed that Donald Trump clip about talking about rigged elections. We all agree that's inflammatory, and irresponsible, and false. But the thing about it is, look at 2008, the presidential debate, McCain said a very similar thing. He said, “ACORN is on the verge of perpetrating the greatest fraud in history.” 2004, President Bush's campaign said there's rampant voter fraud that’s going to steal this election. So this stuff is kind of built into the fabric of conservative rhetoric.
