Second Version of Georgia Voter I.D. Law Signed into Law
Feature Story by Tyler Lewis - 1/27/2006
Despite protests from civil rights groups and a lawsuit arguing that it was unconstitutional, Republican Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue signed a second version of the state's voter identification legislation into law on January 26.When a federal judge temporarily suspended an earlier version of the voter I.D. law in November, calling it an unconstitutional poll tax, supporters moved quickly to introduce a new version that they said addressed the judge's concerns.
The new law, like the version that was suspended last year, requires voters to provide a state-issued identification card before casting a vote. It restricts the number of valid I.D.s from 17 to seven, including a driver's license, passport, military I.D., or a state-issued I.D.
In addition, the new law eliminates the $20 fee for the identification card and includes $150,000 to provide to registrars who will distribute the card in all of Georgia's 159 counties.
Proponents of the measure stated that a voter identification card will prevent voter fraud. They also contend that the law will pass constitutional muster because the I.D. card is now free. Critics maintain that requiring the card at all is an unconstitutional burden on voters.
Civil rights groups and voting rights advocates opposed last year's voter identification bill, stating that it would have an adverse impact on poor, elderly, and minority voters in the state. Although there are 159 counties in Georgia, there are only 56 places where residents can obtain a driver's license, none of which are in Atlanta or the six counties with the highest percentage of blacks.
The original law was the subject of a lawsuit over its constitutionality, brought by civil rights groups, including the ACLU, AARP, Lawyers' Committee For Civil Rights Under Law, Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, and the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund.
Opponents of the law plan to mount a challenge on the same constitutional grounds.
"Removing the $20 fee voters have to pay to the state for a photo ID does nothing to address the costs and difficulty of getting the documents required to qualify for a "free" ID," said Neil Bradley, associate director of the Atlanta-based ACLU Voting Rights Project. "And the core constitutional defect remains: if a voter does not possess a government-issued photo ID she is conclusively presumed not to be the voter she claims to be."
The bill was pushed through Georgia's legislature in just a few weeks, passing in the House within the first four days of the 2006 session and in the Senate on January 24, raising the concern that such action was taken without time for review or time for the lawsuit on the original law to be resolved.
"The legislature's reaction to the federal court's injunction is reminiscent of the 1960s when legislatures commonly responded to court orders by altering laws without fixing the problem, forcing protracted litigation," said the ACLU's Bradley.
The Department of Justice must approve the law under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act before it can be implemented.
