Obama says cynicism is a prime tactic used by those who want to keep people from voting.

Obama has used the eulogy to call for election day to be a national holiday, for Washington DC and Puerto Rico to get statehood, for there to be automatic voter registration and possibly doing away with the “Jim Crow relic” filibuster.

“He was a good and kind and gentle man and he believed in us, even when we don’t believe in ourselves,” Obama said.

Trump suggests delaying November U.S. presidential election

“Bull Connor might be gone but today with our own eyes we witness police officers kneeling on the necks of Black Americans,” Obama says in the eulogy.

“George Wallace may be gone but we can witness our federal government sending agents to use tear gas and batons against peaceful demonstrators. We may no longer have to be able to guess the number of jelly beans in a jar to cast a ballot, but even as we sit here there are those in power doing their darnedest to discourage people from voting by closing polling locations and targeting minorities and students with  restrictive ID laws and attacking our voting rights with surgical precision. Even undermining the postal service in the run-up to an election that’s going to be dependent on mail-in ballots so people don’t get sick” Obama said.

Obama launched a stinging attack on Donald Trump's administration and some police departments.

"Today we witness with our own eyes, police officers kneeling on the necks of black Americans," he said. "We can witness our federal government sending agents to use tear gas and batons against peaceful demonstrators."

He said people in government were "doing their darnedest to discourage people from voting" by closing polling stations and imposing "restrictive ID laws" on minorities and students.

Mr Obama singled out the role of the US postal service in delivering postal votes amid the coronavirus pandemic. Earlier on Thursday Mr Trump suggested the 2020 presidential election in November should be delayed because he said - without providing evidence - that postal voting would enable large-scale voter fraud.

Mr Obama also proposed a series of reforms to voting in the US, including:

Making sure Americans are automatically registered to vote.

Giving the vote to former prison inmates who had "earned their second chance".

Creating new polling stations and expand early voting.

Making election day a national holiday so workers who can't get time off can vote.

He also called for people in Washington and Puerto Rico to have the same representation as other Americans. Washington is a federal district and so does not have representatives in Congress. Puerto Rico is a US territory that doers not have representation in Congress and Puerto Ricans cannot vote in presidential elections.