http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/sto...14tvoterid.htmlQUOTE
Photo ID law gets blocked a 3rd time
Ruling lets some vote without it
By CARLOS CAMPOS
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 09/15/06
Rome — The state's attempt to require voters to show photo ID when casting a ballot suffered yet another legal setback Thursday.
A federal judge in northwest Georgia ruled that voters in a handful of special elections on Tuesday will not have to abide by the photo ID law passed by the Legislature earlier this year. Whether voters will be required to show photo ID in the Nov. 7 general election is still undecided.
The law, pushed by Republicans as a ballot security measure, requires voters to show one of six forms of government-issued photo ID at the polls, including a driver's license, military ID or passport. People who lack the necessary ID can get a free voter ID card from their county elections office.
But a coalition of groups led by Common Cause Georgia has challenged the law in federal court, claiming that the photo ID requirement poses an unnecessary burden on the right to vote, particularly to elderly, poor, disabled and minority voters. Emmet Bondurant, a Common Cause lawyer, argued in federal court that those groups often lack the education or mobility required to get such an ID. Bondurant sought to block the law for about 30 county and city elections scheduled for Sept. 19, including a bond referendum in the city of Decatur.
Former Gov. Roy Barnes, back to practicing law, is making similar arguments in state court, claiming the photo ID law violates the state Constitution.
Thursday's ruling by U.S. District Judge Harold L. Murphy marks the third time the state has been blocked in federal court. Murphy blocked enforcement of a similar law passed by the Legislature in 2005. The Legislature refined the law this year, but Murphy again blocked it prior to the July primaries and subsequent runoffs. A Fulton County Superior Court judge also blocked enforcement of the law for the July primaries, and a decision on whether to block the law permanently is still pending.
It was not immediately known Thursday if the state planned to appeal Murphy's decision.
On Thursday, Murphy was straightforward in his apparent concerns of the law — though he cautioned that he still hasn't made a permanent decision on its legality.
"The right to vote is a sacred right and should not be taken from citizens lightly," Murphy said in his ruling from the bench. Murphy went on to say he didn't want to limit the right to vote to only those with photo ID.
During a hearing that lasted more than three hours, lawyers for Common Cause and the state sparred over the State Election Board's efforts to educate voters about the photo ID requirement. Murphy seemed disturbed by testimony that he said showed "thousands and thousands" of voters lack a driver's license or ID card issued by the Department of Driver Services — by far the most popular forms of ID shown at the polls. Current law, which will be in effect on Tuesday, allows voters to show one of 17 forms of ID, including some non-photo documents such as a utility bill or Social Security card.
A comparison of the state's voter registration database with the DDS database shows that more than 300,000 registered voters in Georgia may lack ID issued by DDS. The judge noted that only 953 voters had sought a free voter ID card.
Lawyers for the state argued that it has undertaken efforts to educate voters about the law, including radio and TV spots, and a direct mail piece to the 300,000 who may lack a driver's license.
They also noted local news reports that showed no voter was turned away at a special election that required photo ID this week in Twiggs County. One man, who arrived at the polls in a car and presumably held a driver's license, refused to provide photo identification when asked, lawyers said. He left without voting.
Tex McIver, vice chair of the State Election Board, later criticized the judge's ruling.
"I think he just sees this as a restriction on voting that shouldn't exist," said McIver, the only witness to testify Thursday. "But that's not the will of the people or the will of the Legislature." McIver said he believes the law is ultimately doomed in Murphy's court.
He said Murphy has "placed himself on an island," noting a national move toward photo ID in other states and in Congress.
On Thursday however, a judge struck down Missouri's new voter identification law as an unconstitutional infringement on the right to vote.
The law required voters to show a federal or Missouri-issued photo ID at the polls, which Circuit Judge Richard Callahan said was an unconstitutional burden on voters because the paperwork required to get those IDs is not free.
Common Cause's Bondurant said he was "obviously pleased" with the Georgia decision, but declined to interpret the judge's comments or ruling on Thursday as favorable to the ultimate fate of his lawsuit.
But both sides agreed on one thing: Given that the judge declined to suspend the state's voter education efforts on photo ID, a cloud of confusion could hang over the polls on Tuesday because of the on-again, off-again nature of the court cases.