The chief of the Voting Rights section of the Civil Rights Division at the Justice Department has admitted that elderly voters might be disenfranchised by new restrictive voter ID laws. John Tanner made the comment earlier this month at the National Latino Congreso. Tanner went on to say white elderly voters would be harmed most by the voter ID laws because most minorities die before becoming elderly.

John Tanner: “Of course, that also ties into the racial aspect, because our society is such that minorities don’t become elderly — the way white people do. They die first, through inequities in healthcare. There are a variety of inequities in this country. And so, anything that disproportionately impacts the elderly has the opposite impact on minorities. Just, the math is such as that.”

His comments were recorded by the Brad Blog.