VOTING RIGHTS: DOJ finds Georgia voter screening inaccurate and discriminatory

[kpete]

VOTING RIGHTS: DOJ finds Georgia voter screening inaccurate and discriminatory

In a decision praised by voting rights advocates, the U.S. Justice Department ruled against Georgia's voter verification program, calling the citizenship screening system inaccurate, flawed and discriminatory against minorities.

The DOJ has rejected Georgia's system of using Social Security numbers and driver's license data to check whether prospective voters are citizens, a process that was the subject of a federal lawsuit before the November election.

In a letter http://www.aclu.org/pdfs/votingrights/moralesvhandel_letterfromcrdtoag.pdf sent last week from Civil Rights Division Acting Assistant Attorney General Loretta King to Georgia state officials, the DOJ said that Georgia's voter verification program is frequently inaccurate and has a "discriminatory effect" on minority voters, subjecting a "disproportionate number of African-American, Asian and/or Hispanic voters to additional, and more importantly, erroneous burdens on the right to register to vote." The letter went on to say that the system "does not produce accurate and reliable information and that thousands of citizens who are in fact eligible to vote under Georgia law have been flagged." The ruling bars Georgia from continuing the citizenship verification, although the state can appeal to the DOJ to reconsider.

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"These burdens are real, are substantial and are retrogressive for minority voters," said King.

Voting and civil rights advocates applauded the DOJ ruling, calling it a victory for protecting eligible voters. U.S. Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), a veteran of the Civil Rights Movement, said Georgia's system of citizenship checks was "an attempt to take us back to another dark period in our history when people were denied access to the ballot box simply because of their race or nationality."

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more:
http://www.southernstudies.org/2009/06/post-13.html

[napi21]

1. So what happens now? Does Ga. HAVE to scrap it's new system

or what? I know there was a BIG FUSS last year when they put this in place.

[Metta]

2. Mazel freaking tov. It's about time someone at Justice woke up.

Let's see if they cave during the follow through.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

3. so Georgia gets rid of the "no match no vote" - congratulations

Congrats to Georgia - this will help keep more valid voters ON the rolls.




We (North Carolina) got rid of that rule in 2007.

The No match no vote was a consequence (unintended?) of the 2002 Help America Vote Act.
This law required that states set up online voter registration databases.

The matching was supposed to be an administrative tool, and NOT a barrier.
At least that is the premise.

About a handful of states got it wrong, including mine, but with the courts or legislation,
most states have corrected this.

[CurtEastPoint]

4. And our GOP handmaiden SOS Karen Handel is behind it and running for governor

HELP US!!

[Wednesdays]

5. K&R

:kick: