Groups Urge DOJ to Reject Georgia Voter I.D. Bill
Feature Story by Tyler Lewis - 8/24/2005
Major civil rights leaders are opposing Georgia's recently enacted voter identification law, which the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is currently reviewing pursuant to the federal preclearance requirements of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. According to Julian Bond, chairman of the NAACP, the I.D. statute is "highly detrimental to the very rights that the [Voting Rights] Act was designed to protect."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 argue 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.
In a New York Times op-ed, Sen. Bill Stephens, R. Ga., made claims that the law would curb voter fraud 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.
"Section 5 preclearance provides an essential check and balance to deter discrimination and protect voters," said Danny Levitas, Ira Glasser Racial Justice Fellow of the ACLU Voting Rights Project. "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."
