Voter ID law loses
another round
A Fulton judge rules the measure violates the state Constitution.
The attorney general plans to appeal.
Three judges have considered Georgia's photo ID requirement for voters. Three
judges have declared it illegal.
The latest
blow to the law came on Tuesday from Fulton County Superior Court Judge T.
Jackson Bedford Jr., who ruled it an unlawful "prerequisite" to voting that
violates the state Constitution.
But the
fight over showing photo identification at the polls is not over. Georgia
Attorney General Thurbert Baker's office announced it would appeal Bedford's
decision to the Georgia Supreme Court. And Congress is moving to require states
to ask voters for photo ID.
Unless the
state Supreme Court overturns Bedford's ruling, voters will not have to show one
of six prescribed forms of government-issued photo identification at the polls
when casting a ballot in the Nov. 7 general election. They would still be asked
to show one of 17 forms of identification, including some forms of nonphoto ID
such as a utility bill or Social Security card.
Former Gov.
Roy Barnes, an attorney, challenged the law in state court, saying on behalf of
an Atlanta woman that the requirement to show photo ID goes beyond the basic
requirements for voting set forth in the Georgia Constitution.
Bedford
agreed.
"The 2006
law requiring a photo ID as the exclusive means of proving one's identity at the
polls and thereby making the possession of an approved form of photo ID a
prerequisite to voting in person and having one's ballot counted violates the
plain terms of the Georgia Constitution," Bedford wrote in his ruling.
Republicans, who have pushed voter ID as a ballot security measure, blasted the
judge's decision.
"Yet again,
an activist judge is thwarting the will of a majority of Georgia citizens and
their elected officials," House Speaker Glenn Richardson (R-Hiram) said in a
statement. "I cannot say it more simply: Only current legal residents of Georgia
should be voting in Georgia elections. The right to vote is precious and the
people of Georgia have made it clear that they want that right protected."
Bedford's
ruling marks the third time this year the state has been stopped from enforcing
the law, approved by the state Legislature in January.
A group led
by the government watchdog Common Cause Georgia challenged the law in federal
court. U.S. District Court Judge Harold L. Murphy stopped enforcement of the law
for the July primaries, and again for Tuesday's special elections, declaring it
an unnecessary burden on the right to vote. Murphy hasn't issued a ruling on
whether the law should be stopped for the November elections.
Murphy also
ruled against a similar photo voter ID law in 2005, prompting the Legislature to
refine it this year.
Fulton
County Superior Court Judge Melvin K. Westmoreland halted enforcement of the law
for the July primary elections in the Barnes case. The case was subsequently
heard by Bedford.
"We're
pretty excited about it, obviously," said Barnes' co-counsel Jennifer Jordan.
"This is the second time that a state court judge has looked at it and agreed
that the Georgia Constitution does not allow the General Assembly to burden or
further condition the right to vote."
Critics
have maintained that there is no evidence of in-person voter fraud, and
Democrats say the law is a GOP plot to suppress minority, elderly and poor
voters who may have trouble getting picture ID.
"Judge
Bedford's decision is an important step in ensuring that all Georgians continue
to enjoy the right to vote — unfettered by partisan attempts to deny ballot
access in this state," said state Sen. Kasim Reed (D-Atlanta) in a statement. He
has passionately spoken against the measure in the Legislature.
Some
Republican leaders have suggested that legislators will seek an amendment to the
state Constitution requiring photo ID for voters, although that move also would
be subject to judicial scrutiny.
In
Washington, the House is expected to approve legislation today that would
require all states to ask voters for photo identification by November 2008 and
proof of citizenship by 2010. The Republican measure, however, is unlikely to
become law because the Senate is not expected to take it up this year.
