Reply #20: Court blocks voter ID law (Georgia's govt. ID rule injoined)

[Laelth]

Good news today:

ATLANTA - Comparing Georgia's new voting law to a poll tax, a federal judge has blocked the state from requiring voters to show photo identification to participate in elections.

In a 123-page ruling Tuesday, U.S. District Court Judge Harold Murphy in Rome said the law is an undue burden on voting rights and is not tailored narrowly enough to serve its stated purpose of preventing voter fraud.

Requiring voters "to purchase a photo ID card effectively places a cost on the right to vote," he said, adding that it is the equivalent of a poll tax and is unconstitutional.

The law "is most likely to prevent Georgia's elderly, poor and African-American voters from voting. For those citizens, the character and magnitude of their injury - the loss of their right to vote - is undeniably demoralizing and extreme," the judge wrote.

Kudos to U.S. District Court Judge Harold Murphy. Story here:

http://www.macon.com/mld/macon/12937581.htm

-Laelth