HOUSTON—Hillary Rodham Clinton is calling for an expansion of early voting and pushing back against Republican-led efforts to restrict voting access, laying down a marker on voting rights at the start of her presidential campaign.
The Democratic presidential candidate is using a speech Thursday at historically black Texas Southern University to denounce voting restrictions in North Carolina, Texas, Florida and Wisconsin and to encourage states to adopt a new national standard of no fewer than 20 days of early in-person voting, including weekend and evening voting.
Clinton is plunging into a partisan debate in many statehouses, which have pitted Democrats who contend restricting voter registration aims to suppress turnout among minority and low-income voters against Republicans who say the steps are needed to prevent voter fraud.
