Photo ID law gets blocked a 3rd time (Georgia)

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/stories/2006/09/14/0914tvoterid.html

Photo ID law gets blocked a 3rd time
Ruling lets some vote without it

By CARLOS CAMPOS
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 09/15/06

Rome — The state's attempt to require voters to show photo ID when casting a ballot suffered yet another legal setback Thursday.

A federal judge in northwest Georgia ruled that voters in a handful of special elections on Tuesday will not have to abide by the photo ID law passed by the Legislature earlier this year. Whether voters will be required to show photo ID in the Nov. 7 general election is still undecided.

The law, pushed by Republicans as a ballot security measure, requires voters to show one of six forms of government-issued photo ID at the polls, including a driver's license, military ID or passport. People who lack the necessary ID can get a free voter ID card from their county elections office.

But a coalition of groups led by Common Cause Georgia has challenged the law in federal court, claiming that the photo ID requirement poses an unnecessary burden on the right to vote, particularly to elderly, poor, disabled and minority voters. Emmet Bondurant, a Common Cause lawyer, argued in federal court that those groups often lack the education or mobility required to get such an ID. Bondurant sought to block the law for about 30 county and city elections scheduled for Sept. 19, including a bond referendum in the city of Decatur.

FULL story at link above.