Despite Strong Opposition, DOJ Approves Georgia Voter I.D. Bill
Feature Story by Tyler Lewis - 8/31/2005
In a move the NAACP called "a step backward," the Department of Justice (DOJ), approved Georgia's recently enacted voter identification law on August 26, pursuant to federal preclearance requirements of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act,"By approving Georgia's onerous law requiring voters to present photo identification to vote, the Justice Department weakened one of this nation's most important voting laws," said Bruce Gordon, President and CEO of NAACP, in a statement released after the decision. "If left unchallenged, many African Americans and other minorities in Georgia will find it difficult to cast their ballots. I will call on a coalition of civil rights groups to join us in challenging the Georgia law."
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 argued that the I.D. bill would have an adverse impact on minority voters in the state and should therefore be rejected by DOJ.
The letter also argues that the state failed to lessen the racial impact of the provisions by increasing access to Department of Motor Vehicle offices or educating the public on the requirements and that such failures suggest the bill was "enacted with a retrogressive purpose."
Because current data shows that Blacks are five times less likely than whites to have access to a vehicle, and thus have no need for a drivers' license, opponents of the bill insist that the elimination of the use of non-photo identification at the polls will affect a disproportionate number of minorities.
In addition, although there are 159 counties in Georgia, there are only 56 places where residents can obtain a drivers' license, none of which are in Atlanta or the six counties with the highest percentage of Blacks.
"Beyond having no anti-fraud rationale, the photo identification requirements of H.B. 244 will pose a real burden to real people, especially the poor and elderly. Many do not have drivers' licenses and cannot afford the fee for an identification card. Requiring a payment to secure the right to vote was declared unconstitutional decades ago, as you know. The cost requirements are reminiscent of the days when poll taxes were required, days which no American wishes to revisit," said Bond in a July 29 press statement.
Sen. Bill Stephens, R. Ga., claimed that the law would curb voter fraud in an op-ed in The New York Times stating that, "80% of Georgians support photo I.D., including wide majorities of Democrats and African-Americans." However, Georgia Secretary of State Cathy Cox, the state's chief election official, has said that no instances of voter fraud at the polls have been documented during her term.
Similar bills have been passed in Wisconsin and Indiana. Last week, Danny Levitas, Ira Glasser Racial Justice Fellow of the ACLU Voting Rights Project warned, "If the Department of Justice allows Georgia to implement this law it will be a green light to officials in Section 5 states who might be eager to suppress minority voters."
