Voter advocates view the law as extraneous and ultimately harmful to a constitutional election process.
Helen Butler, Executive Director of the Georgia Coalition for the Peoples Agenda, doesn't see anything positive that could come from the law.
Her organization travels the state holding town meetings, during which they try to establish the issues that concern people the most. The voter ID issue, she says, is on the list.
"Expending a cost (to get these documents) still constitutes a poll tax," Butler said.
The Voter Identification idea is spreading to other states as well.
Missouri, home of the aforementioned Senator Bond, is facing a similar situation.
A lawsuit was filed by voters last week in Cole County, Missouri, claiming the unconstitutionality of the law in that state and seeking an injunction baring their use in August 28th elections.
Unlike Georgia, who needs clearance through the USDOJ per the Voter Rights Act, Missouri could be strapped with the law if it is passed by the State Legislature.
As covered extensively in the Atlanta Progressive News, the USDOJ approved the Voter ID law in Georgia; however, the Washington Post discovered that President Bush's political appointees overrode the recommendations of four out of five staff attorneys.
The staffers did not approve the Georgia Voter ID Law because the state failed to meet its obligation of showing that the law would not result in reduced access to the polls by African Americans. To the contrary, the facts gathered by the staffers show that the law would indeed result in reduced access.
The Judge who recently issued the injunction against the implementation of the Voter ID law ruled the state had not met its burden of proving there was any need for the law in the first place.
About the author:
Kristina Cates is a Staff Writer for Atlanta Progressive News and may be reached at kristina@atlantaprogressivenews.com.
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