Meanwhile, here in Georgia: State can check voter citizenship —- for now

[CatWoman]

they are terrified at the thought of Georgia going blue............

A federal judge on Thursday allowed the state of Georgia to continue verifying the citizenship of registered voters with a statewide database.

U.S. District Court Judge Jack Camp denied a request for a temporary restraining order from civil rights groups representing a Kennesaw State University student from Cherokee County.


Camp said that, while he was not granting that request, the court “is not foreclosing the possibility of some form of future interim relief.”

He noted that next Wednesday a three-judge court will hear arguments about the lawsuit’s Voting Rights Act claims.

Secretary of State Karen Handel celebrated the ruling.

“I am very pleased with Judge Camp’s decision and view this as a victory for protecting the integrity of Georgia’s elections,” Handel said in a statement.

Some metro Atlanta counties already have stopped the processes in question while the lawsuit and a parallel inquiry by the U.S. Justice Department move forward.

Attorneys for the plaintiff, Jose Morales, continued to press their case.

Laughlin McDonald, an attorney for the ACLU Voting Rights Project, expressed disappointment. “This doesn’t preclude an injunction by the three-judge court, and Judge Camp did concede that the claim was not a frivolous one,” McDonald said.

The Georgia suit is one of several nationwide as some groups seek to drive voter registration to new levels and others try to protect against perceived abuses and potential election fraud.

Camp said an overriding reason for denying the order is preserving the integrity of the voting process. If Handel cannot use the database-matching verification system, the state will be unable to remove fraudulent or disqualified voters, he said.

http://www.ajc.com/services/content/2008/10/17/voters.html