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In a recent interview with TIME Magazine, Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush said he would not reinstate the key component of the Voting Rights Act gutted by the Supreme Court in 2013 if he became president.

During his TIME Magazine interview, Bush is quoted as saying:

“… restoring this automatic pre-clearance process designed for an era of the 1960s is not relevant to 2015…The rest of the Voting Rights Act has an important role to play.”

When speaking with The New York Times, Bush reportedly said:

“There’s been dramatic improvement in access to voting,” he said, adding, “I don’t think there’s a role for the federal government in play in most places — there could be some — but in most places where they did have a constructive role in the ′60s.”

On Friday, Roland Martin and the NewsOne Now panel discussed Bush’s comments about not reinstating Section 4 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act if elected to the highest office in the land.

NewsOne Now panelist Tiffany Loftin, Campaign Strategist and Former USSA President, feels that Bush is playing a “political game.”

While Bush touts the “dramatic improvement in access to voting,” Martin offered the caveat of “there is a reason you’ve seen dramatic turnouts, there is a reason you’ve seen large numbers — it’s because you have pre-clearance, because you have the federal government offering oversight, saying to Mississippi, Alabama, Texas, Georgia, and others that we’re watching you and what you do” as it relates to access to the ballot.

Martin reminded viewers that as soon as the Supreme Court threw out Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act, “North Carolina passed one of the most onerous voter suppression laws in the country. Texas moved [their efforts to pass legislation] quickly, and you see what is happening in Alabama.”

Martin added, “It’s as if you (Jeb Bush) don’t understand there was a reason why you had progress.”

Watch Roland Martin and the NewsOne Now panel discuss Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush’s remarks about not reinstating Section 4 of the Voting Rights act in the video clip above.

TV One’s NewsOne Now has moved to 7 A.M. ET, be sure to watch “NewsOne Now” with Roland Martin, in its new time slot on TV One.

Subscribe to the “NewsOne Now” Audio Podcast on iTunes.

SEE ALSO: 

GOP Redistricting Plot To Unseat Rep. Corrine Brown Exposed

Alabama DMV Closings Limiting Access To Photo ID, Affects Ballot Via Voter ID Laws

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