Organize the South

This is from today's AJC. Is there anyone who can doubt the Republican strategy at this point? Of course, the Democrats had a similar strategy in place. That doesn't excuse it, it means the majority of the people are right to see both parties as 2 sides of the same corrupt coin. On another note, Judge Murphy is the same judge who threw out the ACLU racial profiling motion in the Operation Meth Merchant case. Seems he's willing to go only so far on anything.


STATE LAW UPHELD: Bring photo ID for voting
Ruling takes effect in time for Sept. 18 local elections. Judge commends Georgia's efforts to spread the word.

By Bill Rankin, Jim Galloway
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 09/07/07

Georgia's much-debated photo voter ID law survived a major court challenge Thursday when a federal judge found it did not impose a significant burden on the right to vote.

The ruling upholds Georgia's law, said to be one of the most restrictive in the country, and clears the way for it to be enforced in the upcoming local elections on Sept. 18. Early voting begins Monday.

"It's a tremendous victory for Georgia, for our citizens and for the integrity of our elections," Secretary of State Karen Handel said in a joint press conference with Gov. Sonny Perdue.

Handel promised to continue outreach efforts, which she started this summer, that show voters how they can receive free IDs. This program included 250,000 mailings, hundreds of radio ads and a toll-free hotline.

To date, she said, the state has issued about 3,000 free voter IDs, including 300 since it began the education project in August.

Said Perdue, "Our goal has never been, is not now and never will be to try to keep people from voting."

Lawyers for groups challenging the law claim it creates an unnecessary step that could prevent minorities, the elderly, the disabled and the poor from going to the polls. But state legislators maintained voter ID is a vital component in the state's effort to combat voter fraud.

In a 159-page ruling, U.S. District Court Judge Harold Murphy in Rome, who had previously halted enforcement of the law, lauded the state for its efforts to educate the public about the law.

"Plaintiffs simply have failed to prove that the photo ID requirement unduly or significantly burdens the right to vote," Murphy wrote.

"On the other hand, preventing voter fraud serves the public interest by ensuring that those individuals who have registered properly to vote are allowed to vote and to have their votes counted in any given election," the judge said.

David Brackett, a lawyer representing the plaintiffs, said it was too early to tell if the groups will appeal.

"Obviously, we're disappointed," he said. "We think it's going to result in the disenfranchisement of a significant number of elderly and minorities in Georgia who are registered to vote and who desire to vote in person."

In October 2005, when Murphy suspended an earlier version of the law, he was vilified by Republican legislators who accused him of being an activist judge. At that time, Murphy declared the law imposed an unconstitutional poll tax and did not effectively fight voter fraud.

The Legislature responded by passing a revised version of the photo voter ID law in 2006, allowing state-issued IDs to be obtained for free and requiring that local registrars be able to issue the free cards. But last year, Murphy again issued injunctions halting enforcement of the law.

However, after the Georgia Supreme Court ruled that a similar lawsuit filed in Fulton County should be dismissed, Murphy held a trial in August on the ongoing federal lawsuit. First, Murphy found the plaintiffs in the case did not have legal standing to bring the lawsuit.

Filing suit were Common Cause/Georgia, League of Women Voters of Georgia, the Central Presbyterian Outreach and Advocacy Center, the NAACP, the Georgia Association of Black Elected Officials, the Georgia Legislative Black Caucus, the Concerned Black Clergy of Metro Atlanta and two individuals, Bertha Young, a 78-year-old woman from Rome, and Eugene Taylor of Screven County.

Among the organizational plaintiffs, only the NAACP could assert that at least one of its members would be harmed by the ID law. But Murphy noted that the NAACP could not provide the names of its members who could make that claim.

Although Young does not have a driver's license, she has a ID card issued by the Rome Police Department, and her sons or friends can drive her to the registrar's office, Murphy noted. Even though Taylor's daughter would have to take off from work to drive him to the registrar's office, this is not an unconstitutional burden, the judge found.

Murphy could have ended the case after making those findings. Instead, he also ruled on the merits of the issue.

Murphy noted that his previous injunction hinged in large part on the fact that many voters who lacked a photo ID had no real notice of the requirement or knew how to get one or vote absentee. But the judge said recent evidence showed the state "made exceptional efforts" to contact voters in the 23 counties planning to hold local elections this month.

The plaintiffs, Murphy wrote, "are hard-pressed to show that voters in Georgia, in general, are not aware of the photo ID requirement."

Addressing claims the law does nothing to combat voter fraud, Murphy did note that election rules allow someone to register to vote without presenting a Social Security number or other documentation, including a photo ID. This means, the judge said, a voter could register and then get a voter ID card without showing any other form of identifying information.

But Murphy said the additional step of obtaining the card could deter fraud.

Neil Bradley, a lawyer with the ACLU voting rights project, said Murphy's ruling shows that owning a state voter ID card "merely proves that you have a picture of yourself."

The law "is a complete sham, and we are disappointed that the court did not see it as a sham," said Bradley, one of the lawyers representing the groups that challenged the law.

Sen. Cecil Stanton (R-Macon), a sponsor of the law, praised the ruling.

"I am enormously pleased," Stanton said. "I feel vindicated that this frivolous lawsuit, like the ones brought before, has been dismissed. Judge Murphy did the right thing and I commend him."