September 19, 2005

"Suit filed against Georgia's voter ID law"

"The debate over a law in Georgia requiring voters to show government-issued photo identification at the polls moved today to a new battlefield: the federal courts.

The state's new requirement that voters show government-issued photo identification at the polls poses an "undue burden" on the right to vote and violates federal law, and the Georgia and U.S. constitutions, said a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Rome.

The lawsuit, filed on behalf of two African-American registered Georgia voters and several groups including Common Cause/Georgia, the League of Women Voters of Georgia, the NAACP and the Georgia Legislative Black Caucus, also calls the photo ID requirement an illegal "poll tax" that disproportionately affects blacks, the poor, the sick, and the elderly.

Gov. Sonny Perdue signed into law earlier this year a bill passed by the General Assembly requiring voters to show one of seven forms of government-issued photo identification when voting. The U.S. Department of Justice, which has to review any changes to voting laws in Georgia, approved the new law in August."

You can read the entire article here.

Posted by Randy Riddle at September 19, 2005 02:32 PM