Suit Filed on Voter ID Bill

The ABH reports today that the Georgia Association of Black Elected Officials, the ACLU, the League of Women Voters, and a boatload of other groups are filing suit in federal court to challenge the Voter ID bill that passed the state legislature last session.

If you want some background on the bill, look here and here.

Far be it from us to criticize, but in addition to being the most draconian voting law in the country, this bill is just plain stupid.

One reason why: Georgia is already under pretty strict scrutiny from the Justice Department, as are most other Southern states, as a holdover from the civil rights movement. So given that history, we should obviously try to enact laws that have the end result of disenfranchising lots of minorities, right?

Also, if the fine Republican folks who wrote this law think that it will actually cut down on voter fraud, then they really are out of touch. First of all, let us reiterate. There were no allegations of voter fraud reported to the Secretary of State in 2004. None.

Also, the bill says nothing at all, as far as we know, about absentee ballots, which, in other states, have proven to be a far easier mechanism for committing fraud.

The Justice Department passed on this one, which is really disappointing, but not shocking, given who's in charge over there. Hopefully, a federal judge will be more discriminating. (in the proper way, not the Bill Stephens way.)

In any event, don't look for a resolution on this any time soon, given the crowded dockets in most federal courts, and the glacial pace of big litigation like this.

Tips.