Ga. Court Blocks Voter ID Law Enforcement

[wakeme2008]

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Georgia-Voter-ID.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

July 12, 2006
Ga. Court Blocks Voter ID Law Enforcement
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 4:14 p.m. ET

ROME, Ga. (AP) -- A Georgia Supreme Court ruling Wednesday means that voters will not have to show photo IDs when they go to the polls in next week's primary elections.

The court rejected the state's request to throw out a lower-court order temporarily blocking enforcement of its new photo ID law while a state lawsuit against it is considered.

Civil rights groups contend the law infringes on voting rights, especially those of minorities, the poor and the elderly, but state officials say they're simply trying to prevent election fraud.

All the justices concurred in the Supreme Court's decision, except presiding Justice Carol W. Hunstein, who did not participate.

..more at link...

[Marnieworld]

1. well that's good news

The bad guys will keep trying for this though.

[wakeme2008]

3. Right and they did not attack the real problem

"Critics have argued that voter fraud in Georgia stems from absentee ballot voting, an issue not addressed by the voter ID law."

And the Repugs love absentee ballots...

[rmgarrette64]

5. Why is this good news?

I have not followed this story much, so there may be a good reason - and the fact that every response so far thinks this is a good thing tells me there probably is. But what is it?

After I got my citizenship and started voting, I'll admit I was very surprised not to be asked for my ID. It has always seemed like a problem to me, honestly. Now, another response mentioned that they don't require ID or another check for an absentee ballot. Again, though, that seems to me to be another problem, not an indication we shouldn't fix things where we can.

Was the problem in the specifics of the Georgia law? I just don't get this.

Thanks,

R. Garrett

[lithiumbomb]

6. the ga law is very flawed

The gist of it (and you'll see some of the info in the article), is it required a huge number of the population, which happens to generally be poor, elderly, and african american, to get a state picture ID for the first time in their life. However no assistance or efforts were made to help all these people get photo IDs. How someone with no car, no public transport, and no money is supposed to travel 50 miles to a drivers license center was never really explained (the state did have a single bus to use as a mobile ID unit though). In principle i've got nothing against picture IDs, but in this case it was going to disenfranchise a large number of voters who historically would have voted for democrats.

[3waygeek]

8. It's especially difficult

since Perdue closed many of the state's driver license stations.

[IndyOp]

10. Especially difficult since Perdue closed many of the dr. lic. stations...

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

Seriously, we could not make this stuff up could we?

[alarimer]

7. Because, contrary to Repubilican "wisdom"

people are not committing mass voter fraud. The real voter fraud is committed by Republicans illegally purging voter rolls of "convicted felons", by not providing enough machines for people (in Democratic districts) to vote in a timely manner, by Republican companies providing the voting machines, etc.

[MGKrebs]

9. Many reasons. Allow me to explain.

1. There are no documented cases of voter impersonation fraud in Georgia in at least 9 years. (I have been challenging people all over the place for weeks to give me even a theoretical example of how someone could impersonate a voter. No takers yet. )
2. There are no standards for photo recognition and no poll worker training. It is completely up to their judgment and/or whim.
3. Which may not be so bad, except that if you get denied, you have no recourse: No appeal, no provisional ballot, no nothing.
4. We have a successful and thorough voter registration process.
4. What voter fraud would a photo ID stop anyway?
5. It is a felony to lie on the affidavit.


If you think about what someone would have to do to take advantage of the system I am confident you will find that it is almost impossible to pull off, in Georgia, without getting caught.

I think there may be other states who have less stringent registration requirements or "same day registration" , in which a photo ID might be helpful. But here, the system works great, and this is a bald faced attempt to disenfranchise urban elderly voters who have been voting for decades. And even though the law is being struck down, the proponents have at least partially succeeded because there is now so much confusion about the issue that many won't vote.

Oh, by the way, did I mention that in order to get the ID you must swear that you have no approved ID? And that it is a felony to swear falsely? How many people will fear that the Department of Motor Vehicles or some other government agency will have a record of some valid ID that they are supposed to have but haven't seen in years? Would you risk a felony if you were unsure? And to answer the next question, no, you cannot get the ID without taking the oath.

The Speaker of the Georgia House actually accuses Democrats of wanting illegal immigrants to vote. As if a photo ID would stop illegal immigrants! LOL! They already have fake ID's!

[IndyOp]

11. "It is a felony to lie on affidavit." Exactly! Why no prosecutions?

In the 2004 election over 1 MILLION provisional ballots were not counted. If, in submitting a provisional ballot you are swearing that you are duly registered and are who you say you are -- and 1 MILLION people lied so their ballots were not counted, why has there not been ANY person prosecuted.

I've become a law-and-order person on this issue: Okay, Rethuglicans - put up or shut up. You say people are trying to vote multiple times -- prove it and prosecute them.

One million rejected ballots - One million prosecutions, please.

:grr:

[IndyOp]

12. The US has a long, long dirty history of disenfranchising people

due to their race, ethnicity, religion. In the early 1900's voters were made to read their votes aloud so that the Irish Immigrants (who ran elections in New York and Chicago) could throw away the votes of German Immigrants.

Given any excuse to prevent people from voting - your middle name is on your driver's license, but not on your voter registration - some pollworkers will exclude the poor, African Americans, Native Americans, Hispanics -- anyone who they think will vote Democratic.

I would be okay with Voter ID if it were made extremely easy to acquire - available free at all local post offices upon presentation of your utility bill or rental agreement or mortgage.

In Indiana, you have to have your birth certificate and two other proofs of identification to get the Voter ID, and you have to go to a driver's license bureau to get that ID.

The new Voter ID law will disenfranchise about 7% of the states' low-income Democrats and 5% of the states' low-income Republicans. So, the Republican SoS just loves it!

:grr:

[MGKrebs]

13. Same here. You need the same ID to get the ID

as we have asked for at the precinct. Now you just have to go somewhere else first to get the "approved" ID, then take it to the poll. Bizarre.

I read a comment somewhere that said we essentially are trusting the elections division to validate a persons' ID every day of the year EXCEPT election day.

[Marnieworld]

14. In addition to what others have posted

Many elderly African Americans in the South were not born in Hospitals(because they weren't allowed to be) and therefore do not have a birth certifcate. This prevents many from getting IDs and many have gotten around it up to this point. A DU poster a while back wrote about her mother that has to deal with this and that woke me up to it.

Diebold has already helped steal the last two elections in GA. Why can't they just accept that and leave the elderly alone. This is a blatant attempt to try and disenfranchise voters, democratic voters and they have been stopped repeatedly but they keep trying.

[roseBudd]

15. People who drive would have an advantage when it comes to voting...

They wouldn't have to do anything to vote and because people who drive have costs associated with driving, those who do not drive tend to be poorer, older and not nearly as white as the driving population. The GOP favors photo ID laws because their voters are least likely to be poor, elderly and not white.

[rosesaylavee]

2. Wooodammnhoo!

Needed some good news today!

[Roland99]

4. Damn liberal activist judges...

putting democracy and Constitution over Boy King's wishes.