August 24, 2005

Groups Urge DOJ to Reject Georgia Voter I.D. Bill

"Major civil rights leaders are opposing Georgia's recently enacted voter identification law, which the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is currently reviewing pursuant to the federal preclearance requirements of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. According to Julian Bond, chairman of the NAACP, the I.D. statute is "highly detrimental to the very rights that the [Voting Rights] Act was designed to protect."

The law, House Bill 244, was passed on April 22. It requires that all prospective voters present a state-issued photo identification at the polls before being allowed to cast their ballot.

Georgia previously accepted 17 forms of voter I.D., including a birth certificate or a Social Security card.

However, Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act requires that any voting changes by certain states, including Georgia, obtain federal pre-approval before they can be implemented. Under DOJ's guidelines, a voting change will not be approved if it would adversely affect the voting rights of language or racial minorities.

In a letter sent to the DOJ on July 7 - signed by more than twenty national civil rights organizations including the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, People for the American Way, and the Georgia chapters of AARP and the ACLU - civil rights groups argue that the I.D. bill would have an adverse impact on minority voters in the state and should therefore be rejected by DOJ."

Posted by Randy Riddle at August 24, 2005 02:58 PM