ABH: Um...about that Voter ID Law? Our bad.

So, despite coming out against any changes to the Voter ID Law just three weeks ago, the ABH takes a step back and thinks that maybe they were a leeeeeetle too hasty.

Amazing what a little overt racism does to your position, huh?

Of course no one wants to be on Sue Burmeister’s side anymore, not since she got caught with her sheet down in front of the Department of Justice and the AJC.  That’s why State Senator Cecil Staton (R-Macon) is getting it together to tweak the law just a little bit.

For what it’s worth, we think Staton is on the right track, sort of.  If, for instance, ID’s were issued from local government offices (perhaps the local Board of Elections, which is usually centrally located, often in the county courthouse in smaller towns), and were made available for free (without having to go through the soul-crushing loss of dignity that signing a pauper’s affidavit would require), that would go a long way towards eliminating some of the problems that the opponents of this bill have with it.  It also has the side benefit of making Staton look more bipartisan, and more interested in working with both sides to find solutions.  It goes without saying that this is a quality sadly lacking in most Republicans in Georgia.  It also goes without saying that having that reputation only helps in an election year.

Don’t get us wrong, though.  The best fix for the law is to repeal the damn thing altogether.  But we like compromise sometimes too.

One big question we have is whether this law will even be revisited at all during the 2006 session.  The journey through the courts will probably last long enough to give the GOP some political cover, which is why the Democrats should make it one of their top priorities.  And, as you know, the Gubner hath decreed that 2006 will be a quiet year under the Dome o’ Gold.  (He’s gotta run fer re-election, yo.)

With respect to this law, we’d like to see three things, politically speaking, in the 2006 session.

1. Staton introduces his changes.


2. A Democrat (we’d suggest Vincent Fort [D-Atlanta]) introduces a measure to repeal the thing altogether.


3. A Republican and a Democrat co-sponsor a resolution to censor Burmeister for her comments, which passes.

Will any of this happen?  Probably not.  But if you’ve learned anything from us, we hope it’s this: Political navel-gazing can be fun.