It is the largest republican field of candidates to take the stage. Fox news is calling it a high stakes showdown. We want to begin with your comments on the Voting Rights. Is it still needed . Republicans, 202 7488001. Democrats, 202 7488000. Independents, 202 7488002. Send us a tweet, join us on facebook. Thank you for being with us. There are two forums. The main event at 9 00 eastern time. We want to get your comments on what questions you would ask the candidates. It seems the republicans like to violate Voting Rights act every chance they get. How does it showing your id heres the piece who says the federal Appeals Panel rule yesterday that a strict voter identification law in texas discriminated against blacks and hispanics and violated the rights act of 1965. A decision that defines the reach of the law. The case is one of a few across the country that are being closely watched. This after a 2013 Supreme Court decision that blocked the most enforcement tool, federal oversight of election law with history of Racial Discrimination. We want to get to your phone calls but first lets take a step back on this date 50 years ago. Heres how Lyndon Johnson had to sign it into law and a portion of what he had to say. This act flows from a clear and simple wrong. Its only purpose is to right that wrong. Millions of americas are denied the right to vote because of their color. This law will insure them the right to vote. No american true to our principals can deny. 50 years ago and by the weekend American History tv well look at the legislation and the signing ceremony by president johnson. You can check out all the scheduled information at cspan. Org. They have a piece this morning inside the New York Times titled is the vote is rights act history. Let me share a portion of what he says this morning also reporting on the Voting Rights act 50 years later. Thank you for being with us. Thank you for having me, steve. Lets take a step back to the 2013 Supreme Court ruling which did send shockwaves to those who were critical on the changes to the law. Can you elaborate that. In that decision the Supreme Court really gutted the core of the law which was language forcing about nine Southern States with a history of Racial Discrimination to seek approval before changing the voting laws. That was the key enforcement mechanism that the federal government used to make sure the Voting Rights act was being followed by the states. Now after that law we saw states like North Carolina and weeks after the decision passed a sweeping voter id law. Texas passed another one too although that was struck by a federal Appeals Court yesterday. A bunch of states jumped into the game soon after the Supreme Court case took place. All eyes on the impact that this could have on Hillary Clinton gave a speech on this and she was critical of the Supreme Court ruling. But a number of states including ohio where john kasich signed into law that basically says the following. That you need to show a passport, drivers license military id or state id card. What is it difficult about having voters show those ids . With democrats what they argue is there is very little evidence of inside voter fraud. These laws are intended to suppress the votes and present a lot of minorities and blacks and hispanics live in areas where sometimes its difficult to get to a dmv if you dont have a car. What other states could this impact . Another big one is wisconsin which passed a voter id law and where Governor Scott walker is from and another president ial candidate that is in the top three. Im sure hell have the crosshairs on his back for democrats host the other story is the debate. This is the headline. Could this go to the u. S. Supreme court before 2016 . Theyre going to need to act fast. Theyll need to get certain from the Supreme Court and ask they will to take it up fairly soon. Supreme court will decide what cases to take up for next year very soon and this is going to be a very contentious case. So usually that means that the Supreme Court will rule on it at the end of its term which is june 2016. That could come down to the midst of the campaign season. If the Supreme Court does strike it down will texas be able to host thank you very much for being with us. Thank you. Host you can read his work online any time at thehill. Com. Lets hear from you on the Voting Rights act. Is it still needed . Jen has that tweet she says the following larry joining us from mississippi. Good morning to you. Democrats line. Larry, good morning. Caller yes. The Voting Rights act is needed today. When you can vote in texas and cannot view the id that tells you what theyre up to, what the republicans are up to. And theyre taking away early voting. Theyre taking it away from blacks. When they go to the poll on sunday they know exactly what theyre doing and you have a nice day. Host 20274880001. And 2,024,288,002 for democrats. As the act as 50 facing new challenges. Caller i have so much to say i dont know if i can keep it short. But of first of all im a white guy and i live in a black neighborhood. Every person thats three besides me has voter id. Ive asked people about it and they say, why cant people get voter id, and im talking about my fellow voters who happen to be black. I said just go make up your mind to get an id and youll get an id. But as far as disenfranchising the purpose of the Democrat Party is to end it it and Illegal Immigrants and people who are not citizens to be able to vote. Comes down to that, there is no way anymore to assure a Fair Election unless we know that people are only voting once. Ill try to keep this short. I have a very good friend of mine who was working in florida during the 2000 election. He decided to leave the Democratic Party after watching the same van load of black voters come to the same polling place three times and vote under three different names each time excuse me, one different name but they voted three times. This occurred in dade county in the 2000 election. He wound up getting harassed by a bunch of guy at his home threatening him if he opened his mouth. Dont be telling us republicans and conservatives that this is not about cheating. The same thing is also true with early voting in it all the other alternative methods of voting. What that does is open the door to multiple votes. Thats what it does. And frankly the Founding Fathers had it right when it comes to voting we all vote together in the same place on the same day and theres really no other way to assure a free and Fair Election. I mean, i wish that it it made sense to have a lot of different ways to vote. It doesnt. Host thank you for the call from richmond, virginia. Let me go back to the story. They called a breech of the Voting Rights act. Texas id law is one of the strictest and requires voters to bring a government issued photo id to the polls and accepted forms include the drivers license and passport concealed handgun license and election id certificate issued by the state department of Public Safety. They ruled yesterday that the voter id law in texas does discriminate against blacks and hispanics and violates the 1965 Voting Rights act signed by president Lyndon Johnson. A viewer is weighing. A viewer said, yes and voter id also with one other point. Citizens only and no exceptions. Next call is bridgette joining us on the democrats line. Good morning. Good morning. What i have to say is the question that should be asked is, is racism still alive and well in america especially in texas . Yes, it is. Its necessary to have the act in place. There are stumbling blocks that have been placed to prevent blacks and hispanics from voting. Host let me stop you. You said stumbling blocks. Be specific. Caller well, in the sense of that there is a delay in the time theyll have to come back. They probably dont have the right documents and every stumbling block is in place to prevent them. Host have you ever experienced that . No, i have not but ive spoken to people who have experienced that. So i do believe that the Voting Rights act needs to stay in place because there are elements in america who have been trying to chip away at that for so many years because they want to disenfranchised blacks and minorities in america. And thats all i have to say. Host thank you for the call. If youre just tuning in if youre listening on cspan radio this program live on xm channel 120. President johnson signed it into law on this date and were asking you whether its still needed. The story of the first page in a number of newspapers including the tallahassee democrat in florida. Good morning, your thoughts on this issue. Caller good morning. Im from florida and last year we had an election. Ive been encouraging the kids to vote now that a couple of years now and they implemented a rule they couldnt use their voter id. Not the voter id but the student id and they also had to go home and vote in her own precinct and they have to go up to tampa two hours away and knocked all the kids out of voting. I also had the wrong address on my license and even though both streets were in the same precinct my drivers license was prevented and wouldnt let me vote. This is a lot of funny business going on with that and i think it should be the rules should be relaxed as long as you have a picture id i dont think they should be able to kick the kids out of voting or anybody that has a picture id. Lyndon johnson called it a triumph for freedom. And marked the end of poll taxes and literacy tests. They be voting and everything else. If you dont stop them and i think you ought to be paying Social Security to be a citizen. If you are getting jobs on the side and not paying in Social Security i dont think you ought to be able to vote. Thats my opinion. Host thank you very much for the call. Another viewer saying, what i did see was organized groups trying to stop people from voting by challenging their status. We covered one of them as a processor from Indiana University said he weighed in on the issue. Part of cspans Video Library. Here are his thoughts. There are surveys of non voters that have been done. The problem is finding causation between lack of a photo id and not going to cast the ballot of the because people will say, well, i didnt vote because i didnt have an id but i also wasnt registered. Is that a person who is not voting because they werent registered or not voting because they dont have an id. Even if you give them the menu like the weather was bad and didnt like the candidates. Only about i dont know 7 of non voters lack of id at least in indiana this was the case in 2008, only 7 of voters say that was one of many possible issues that they had. So i suspect there arent that many folks who are out there at least in indiana who are detoured. Host Michael Pitts who is professor weighing in on the id issues that are the centerpiece of legal challenges to the Voting Rights agent. Next is william joining us from holland, ohio. Welcome to the conversation. Your thoughts on this. Caller good morning. I like to say first of all that the Charlotte Observer was absolutely right on what they were saying and secondly i like to say that i just love Lyndon Johnson because of what he did and the courage it took in that hostile america to sign the Voting Rights act and put it into progress. And yes, they are trying to tear it down. I never vote conservative. I never voted for conservative. I told all my friends within those last few elections that gay rights is not going to taken away. The right of a woman to chooses wont be taken away. What is going to be taken away is the same thing that they battled these wars over, the civil war and all these black people got killed for. They were going to take away our right to vote and make it so hard to vote that a vote wont count. And thats what these laws are doing right now, theyre making it so that is harder for our vote to count and making it harder for the people who support our rights making it harder for those. Theyre being disenfranchised because they stand with us. Host Governor John Kasich made this point. They want to make sure its an honest system and id is a simple and easy way to make sure those who are registered to vote and citizens actually do vote. Caller yes i know what he said but i dont know who he is. He may be a decent man, but the people who support john kasich are completely against our rights to vote in mass numbers. They dont like the cleveland area and so forth pause we help win these elections in cleveland. If you could make it harder for us and the people who stand with us to vote, just disenfranchised them and turn them away at the polls you can win these elections and run the country and destroy all our rights. President s appoint Supreme Court justices and Voting Rights was gutted by the Supreme Court not the legislatures, but the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights act. Host william thank you for the call. Today we need a new law to make sure that the votes of legal voters are not cancelled out by those who are not eligible to vote. Some other news on this thursday morning inside the washington times, a former ron paul staffer has been indicted connected to the 2012 campaign. Three of the staffers, one of whom also worked for Senate LeaderMitch Mcconnell charged in an indictment that accuses them of paying off an iowa state senator to switch allegiance in the last race. Theyre claiming they gave 73,000 in payments to then senator kent leroy sorenson. According he heads the Action Committee and super pact that is supporting rand pauls president ial bid. This story Available Online at washington. Caller lets forget about the voter id and lets look at the ballot machine itself. It goes off with no paper receipt. So when a country of checks and balances we have checks and balances on our vote. We donting and what that is. You get to the people who count the votes. Thats where its at. There is no checks and balance on the vote. Have a good day. Host thank you from upstate new york. From the Charleston South Carolina post an opinion piece from adam parker. He says gwen the joining us from birmingham, alabama. Good morning. Caller good morning. How are you . Host fine, thank you. Caller im hoarse this morning. As a person from birmingham alabama, im very offended that this is even open for debate. We should not be having this discussion in 2015. It pains me. I just went selma with my family for my reunion and we went to the Civil Rights Museum and when i went into that Civil Rights Museum and saw what black people had to endure to be able to vote and count jelly beans in a jar, i stood there in that Rights Museum and i balled. Its very limited. Ive been voting since i was 18 years ago and im 67 years old. To see my people then denied to vote because of some type of voter id. Its the republicans doing this and only the republicans. Where im from thats where they did their gutting of some of the voter rights. Host can you stay on the line for a minute . Caller yes, i can. I want to you react to what congressman john lewis who as you pointed out your own visit to selma alabama was wrong those in the civil rights march in 1965. He was beaten as he crossed the bridge and spoke and ferguson, missouri and the shooting that had been taken place there towards black men. I want to play this. Lets watch. Congressman lewis, there is clearly an impact that that recent legislation in particular and Supreme Court cases have had on Voting Rights and Voting Rights for africanamericans. What have the last two years in particular done to the after can american elect rat. If there is one thing that awful us need to be doing move into november, what is that one thing . More than anything else the decision of the United StatesSupreme Court and local states and not just the Southern States have made a deliberate effort to take us back to another period. We must stand up and fight and push by going to the polls and vote like we never voted before. The vote is almost sacred and controls everything that we do, everything. And as the minority whether it be black native america with must understand that 50 years ago this year three young men that i knew, they gave the