At a reception in honor of Black History Month on Tuesday, Vice President Joe Biden said he hopes Congress will “modernize” the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to counter the “hatred” behind voter ID laws in Alabama, North Carolina and Texas.

“These guys never go away,” Biden said of supporters of voter ID. “Hatred never, never goes away. The zealotry of those who wish to limit the franchise cannot be smothered by reason.”

Alabama House Speaker Mike Hubbard responded to Biden’s comments today, suggesting the vice president and the rest of the Obama Administration concentrate on fixing the ObamaCare “disaster” and leave Alabama’s elections to the state. Hubbard also made it clear that “hatred” had nothing to do with the passage of Alabama’s photo voter ID law.

“The only things we hate in Alabama are voter fraud and liberal politicians in Washington, D.C. trying to tell us how to run our state,” Hubbard told Yellowhammer. “There is nothing more sacred than the right to vote and we’re doing everything we can to protect that right for citizens of all colors. Seems to me like Joe Biden and the rest of the Obama Administration need to be focused on fixing the disaster that is ObamaCare and reining in Washington’s out-of-control spending. If Obama and Biden can’t even get a website to work, why would we take advice from them on how to run our elections?”

Alabama’s photo voter ID law kicks in this year, but voters without photo identification have two options to get a free ID to meet the requirement. They can either go to the Dept. of Public Safety office in their county and acquire a free non-drivers ID card or go to their local Board of Registrars office to get a free photo ID there.

The United States Justice Department is currently suing North Carolina and Texas in an attempt to block their voter ID laws, arguing they discriminate against minorities.

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