Voter ID Laws Challenged

By Sari Gelzer
t r u t h o u t | Report

Thursday 13 April 2006

Seven states have adopted highly controversial voter ID laws requiring citizens bring a photo-ID when casting ballots, thereby eliminating previously accepted forms of identification such as social security cards or utility bills.

Civil rights groups and others who oppose these laws view them as a hindrance to specific groups of voters - especially ethnic minorities, the disabled and seniors.

Currently, under the Help America Vote Act (HAVA), states must comply with provisions that require all first-time voters to show identification when they register. Twenty-two states have implemented laws that require all voters to show identification when casting a ballot. However, seven states require all voters to bring state-issued photo-IDs, and these strict laws are being highly disputed.

Below is a description of the situation in Indiana, Arizona, and Georgia, three of the seven states that have enacted controversial voter ID laws and now face challenges from citizen groups representing unique demographics specific to their state.

Indiana

Indiana is being challenged in US District Court on their requirement for voters to show a photo-ID. The ACLU, on behalf of a broad-range coalition of plaintiffs, has filed a lawsuit under the premise that issues of mobility constrain the ability of the elderly and rural residents to obtain this ID, according to Melissa Madill, executive director of the Indianapolis Resource Center for Independent Living. Madill goes on to explain that with 70% of Indiana's population unemployed, the cost to obtain state-issued documents, such as birth certificates, required to receive these "free" state-issued photo-IDs is an additional barrier.

Fran Quigley, executive director of the ACLU in Indiana, calls the state law "the most restrictive voting barrier in the United States since the Jim Crow era."

Indiana faces its first elections of this year on May 2nd, with the suit still pending. Local newspapers, such as the South Bend Tribune, are attempting to avoid voter confusion and suggest that voters plan to bring their photo-IDs to the polls.

Arizona

Arizona, a state with a large population of Latino citizens, has passed Proposition 200, which requires stricter proof of citizenship. A coalition of citizen's rights groups intend to sue the Secretary of State Jan Brewer in federal court. Brewer says she refuses to back down. The coalition, including the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona, the Arizona Advocacy Network, People for the American Way Foundation, the League of United Latin American Citizens and Goldman's group, says Brewer's law could prevent out-of-state Arizonans such as college students and military members from registering in their home state, the Associated Press reports.

Mi Familia Vota, is a non-partisan, grass-roots organization whose goal is to register 60,000 new voters in Arizona for the November election. Adrian Pantoja, a political science professor at Arizona State University, said that the irony of Proposition 200 is that is could create a backlash by mobilizing Latino voters against it.

Georgia

Georgia is known for enacting the most controversial of all Voter ID laws in early 2005, requiring all voters who didn't have a state-issued ID to purchase one for $20 at their local Department of Motor Vehicles. No DMV's, however, are located in the major city of Atlanta, according to electiononline.org. The New York Times called this law undemocratic and a violation of the Voting Rights Act in an editorial titled "Georgia's Undemocratic Voter Law."

In October 2005, the law was blocked after strong criticism by civil rights groups, who compared this law to a Jim Crow Poll tax. In January, a new law was signed by Republican governor Sonny Perdue to provide state-issued IDs for free, the Associated Press reported.

Georgia's law continues to be challenged, with former Democratic governor Roy Barnes of Georgia announcing Wednesday, April 12, that he is filing a class action suit on behalf of all voters without photo-IDs, alleging that Georgia's Voter ID Law violates the Georgia constitution. Barnes says that the Republican-backed law is "a blatant attempt to curb minority voting," reported the Associated Press.

In addition to Barnes's suit, more then two dozen civil rights, community, religious and citizen advocacy groups have asked the US Justice Department to block Georgia's recent law, according to the Associated Press.

The US Justice Department must approve Georgia's law because, while states have leniency in how they wish to implement election requirements, the federal government must approve all decisions regarding election law under the Voter Rights Act, which protects voters from America's history of voter discrimination, especially in the south, the Associated Press reported.

Voter IDs have been involved in a longstanding debate between Republicans and Democrats prior to HAVA's introduction. The revival of this issue since HAVA was implemented has resulted in more states requiring all voters to present Voter IDs when casting a ballot. Since 2001, states that require voters to show identification have doubled from 11 to 22, reported electiononline.org.

Former Democratic President Jimmy Carter, who co-chaired the Commission on Federal Election Reform, has taken a stance for requiring Voter IDs and hopes to see a standard national voter ID by 2010 to eliminate individual state-wide controversy. Carter doesn't see Voter IDs as the cure to voter fraud since, he said, "The fact is, very few cases of fraud occur," according to the Associated Press. Carter said the motivating factor for implementing Voter IDs should be to restore people's mistrust of voting.

In response to the Baker/Carter Commission Report, Representative John Conyers Jr., Ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee and founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus, expressed shock at Carter's suggestion and said that a national Voter ID would "take us several giant steps back in the march for voting rights." Conyers and civil rights groups believe that one major reason for not using Voter IDs is that they would significantly diminish freedom and privacy. Conyers said in a press release that a national Voter ID requirement is risky because it would "threaten the privacy that Americans have always enjoyed and will gradually increase the control that government and business wield over everyday citizens."