Minorities tend to vote Democrat. Less so now than before, but still.

In the past, the Republican party did not want any minority members (more of a grass roots thing than official party policy). The party is still coming to grips with encouraging gays to vote for them without soliciting them to join the party, or representing them much. Change takes time, and I don't fault you for taking your time.

If Republicans could deny all minorities from voting, they would win a *lot* of elections.

This is tempting to some weak-minded Republicans to "do something about it". Sometimes these bad examples get up to mischief.

Then again, election law can (completely legally) be written in ways that will subtly encourage or discourage portions of the populace to vote. Democrats look really hard at such legislation, and tend to be a bit paranoid about it. These (hispanic community, for example) are valid Democratic constituents. Discourage them from voting and you threaten Democrats ability to be elected.

It's pretty similar to the Republican (and any incumbents) abject terror of anything sounding like campaign finance reform -- it threatens the Republican (and incumbents) ability to win elections.