Trump administration already worries civil rights groups

WASHINGTON (AP) — The nation's largest civil rights organization says it will closely monitor President-elect Donald Trump and his incoming administration's policies and actions to ensure that hard-fought civil rights gains are not lost without a protracted fight.

Seven of the nation's largest civil rights organizations — the NAACP, the National Urban League, the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, and the National Action Network — also criticized the appointment of conservative media executive Stephen Bannon as Trump's senior counselor.

Sherrilyn Ifill, president of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., and Kristen Clarke, president of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, said they would continue to work on voting rights issues under the Trump administration, given they fielded thousands of voting rights complaints — 30,000 on Election Day alone, according to Clarke — during last week's elections.

Fourteen states had new voting or registration restrictions in place for the 2016 presidential election, raising concerns that minority voters in particular would have a harder time accessing the ballot box.