The New Georgia Voting Law

Georgia has passed a disturbing new law that bars people from voting without government-issued photo identification and seems primarily focused on putting up obstacles for black and poor voters. The Justice Department is now weighing whether the law violates the Voting Rights Act. Clearly it does, and it should be blocked from taking effect.

The new law's supporters claim that it is an attempt to reduce voter fraud, but Secretary of State Cathy Cox has said she cannot recall a single case during her tenure when anyone impersonated a voter.

In the same period, she says, there have been numerous allegations of fraud involving absentee ballots. But the Georgia Legislature has passed a law that focuses on voter identification while actually making absentee ballots more prone to misuse.

The new law will make it harder for elderly Georgians to vote as well. It has been estimated that more than 150,000 older Georgians who voted in the 2004 presidential election do not have driver's licenses, and are unlikely to have other acceptable forms of identification. According to census data, black Georgians are far less likely to have access to a car than white Georgians, so they are at a distinct disadvantage when driver's licenses have an important role in proving people's eligibility to vote.

I just do not understand how anyone can think that this new law will place "obstacles" in the path for anyone to vote, let alone black, poor, or elderly voters.

Think about it for a moment. The law does nothing but require you to verify that you are who you say you are when you show up to vote. Every place I have voted in my life has required that I show some form of photo id, whether I was in Nevada, Hawaii, South Dakota, California, or Georgia, so why is it an issue all of a sudden?

Cathy Cox says she cannot recall a single case during her tenure when anyone impersonated a voter. Duh, maybe because no one was checking before, so there are no statistics to prove or disprove this activity occurred.

If people are allowed to vote without photo id, what is to stop them from going from precinct to precinct, voting numerous times? Nothing, and no one.

Government issued id's come in many shapes and forms, not just driver's licenses. I would like to know why the author of this article thinks that the "more than 150,000 older Georgians who voted in the 2004 presidential election" who "do not have driver's licenses" would not be able to obtain one of the six forms of photo identification allowed under the new law?

(1) A Georgia driver’s license which was properly issued by the appropriate state agency;
(2) A valid identification card issued by a branch, department, agency, or entity of the State of Georgia, any other state, or the United States authorized by law to issue personal identification, provided that such identification card contains a photograph of the elector;
(3) A valid United States passport;
(4) A valid employee identification card containing a photograph of the elector and issued by any branch, department, agency, or entity of the United States government, this state, or any county, municipality, board, authority, or other entity of this state;
(5) A valid United States military identification card;, provided that such identification card contains a photograph of the elector;
(6) A valid tribal identification card containing a photograph of the elector.

Do the 150,000 black, poor and elderly voters in Georgia that the author refers too, not have bank accounts? Surely most, if not all of them, do. Whether they cash their paychecks, welfare checks, or social security checks, they all need some form of identification to conduct their banking business.

I am sure the numbers are much, much lower than the author references, but the author also fails to mention that the Georgia Department of Driver Services also offers a free identification card for voting purposes at all customer service centers which are valid for 10 years.

If any of the remaining Georgia voters (who do not have a driver's license, or any other form of id) use the excuse that they cannot find transportation to obtain such identification, I would like to ask them how they were able to arrive at the polling precinct in the first place.

This law is not discrimination. This law does not bar anyone from voting. This law simply requires people to guarantee that the vote they cast is a legitimate one. Why do some people have a problem with that?