ATLANTA -- The new secretary of state announced today he is continuing the battle between the state and the federal government over how Georgia verifies the citizenship of people registering to vote.
Brian Kemp, who is completing the final year of Karen Handel's term as secretary of state, said he will go to court to defend a process she devised for proving voters are U.S. citizens. Handel resigned to campaign for governor, and Gov. Sonny Perdue appointed Kemp, who was already campaigning to succeed her.
The process requires computers to compare voter applications with information in databases maintained by the Georgia Department of Driver Services and the U.S. Social Security Administration.
Last fall, the U.S. Department of Justice rejected her process because officials in Washington said it would flagged more members of racial minorities, requiring them to submit additional proof which unfairly increased their burdens for voting, in violation of the federal Voting Rights Act.
When Kemp was sworn in last month, he said he was looking at the matter but had not then decided how to proceed.
With his press release today, Kemp accused President Barack Obama's appointees of rejecting the procedure for political reasons.
"The state of Georgia will no longer watch the Obama Justice Department play politics with our election processes and protections. The Justice Department is denying Georgia's legal requirement to verify the information provided by new voter registration applicants," Kemp said.
By filing suit in federal district court in Washington, the state would transfer the decision from the Justice Department to judges. Kemp asked state Attorney General Thurbert Baker to hire private lawyers to represent the state.
Baker wasn't immediately available for comment. He won the right in Georgia's Supreme Court to have the final say over whether to file suit after he refused a request from Perdue to sue the Justice Department about another Voting Rights case.
now how on earth could this possibly be opposed on political grounds? and if the opposition to it is political, could that mean that the verification thingie is also political?
When I registered to vote I had to show my birth certificate.
cg, of all the comments i've seen on this site, happychimer's seems to be one of the most relevent to a story, but you are not so impressed. hmm...
happychimer, when and where and why? who? did you have it with you? did you expect to have to show it?
no, dits, it means that all voters should be legally registered voters. That includes everybody.... Why shouldn't they.
uh, i mean relevant.
dani, here's what gpb says- "Opponents, including the American Civil Liberties Union, say it violates the Constitution and poses an undue burden on citizens when registering to vote. "
it can be tough to find a birth certificate. i've had to order a copy it and it takes a while and costs money.
a lot of people like the motor voter idea where you register when you get your driver's license.
Go get 'em Brian Kemp! Sue, sue, sue until you get the Dems in D.C. to get out of Georgia's voter registration system. There's no doubt they're just trying to force the illegal vote so Obama will have a chance to survive 2012. No surprise here. The fact that the ACLU is supporting the illegal voter is proof something is wrong.
I registered right here in Richmond County before the 1972 Presidential election, and I knew what to take with me. I don't remember exactly what all I had to show, but I did show my driver's license and my birth certificate.
I agree with johnston.cliff. If the ACLU is against it then it is a good program. There are also other occasions that you need a birth certificate. That includes signing up for Social Security. So, for the arguement that some people have to order a copy of their birth certificate then they will now have it for other purposes. I am all for showing prove of citizenship in order to vote.
I thick I remember showing my birth certificate when I applied for my social security card. back in 1965 when I got a part time job and was going to school. I also had to show my birth certificate to get a passport.
Signing up for ss online is simple, and if you follow instructions to the letter, you probably won't have to show anything.
The folks claiming it is an unfair burden to show documentation to vote have no problem getting to the welfare offices with the neccesary documentation.
from sourcewatch.org
Oct 27. A CNN story[15] says that Georgia is checking more voters than any other state, resulting in over 50,000 voters being removed from the rolls, often erroneously. According to the report Georgia's Secretary of state, a Republican, began working on purging voter rolls after being elected in 2006.
from sourcewatch.org
Nov 8, 2008. A significant percentage of the almost 5,000 ballots "challenged" on citizenship grounds were deemed ineligible and discarded after challenged voters failed to appear before their County Board of Elections with documentation supporting their citizenship.[10] According to Secretary of State Karen Handel, only new voters and those who changed key information on their voter registration were challenged. However, according to DeKalb County Election Director Linda Latimore, many voters in their area were challenged due to clerical error or common names.
from sourcewatch.org
Oct 30. Secretary of State Karen Handel has reminded voters that anyone can challenge another voter's eligibility at the polls, requiring them to vote on a "challenge ballot" (which will not be included in that day's totals) and appear before the board of elections at a later date. From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, October 30, 2008
this one's just for awesomeness also from sourcewatch.org
A Common Cause examination of voting preparedness rated Georgia's voter registration voter identification system as "unsatisfactory," citing, "Georgia law mandates that a voter show a government-issued photo identification. If the voter does not have one, he or she must obtain a free Georgia Voter Identifi cation Card. To obtain this card, the voter must bring identification or a voter registration card to the county clerk or a Department of Driver Services branch."[
The reason the Administration doesn't want legal voting practices, is because most illegals vote Democrat. Nancy Pelosi wants a Windfall Tax on Retirement Income. In other words tax what you have made by investing toward your retirement. This woman is a nut case! You aren't going to believe this.
Madam speaker Nancy Pelosi wants to put a Windfall Tax on all stock market profits (including Retirement fund, 401K and Mutual Funds! Alas, it is true - all to help the 12 Million Illegal Immigrants and other unemployed Minorities!
She quotes..' We need to work toward the goal of equalizing income, (didn't Marx say something like this?), in our country and at the same time limiting the amount the rich can invest.' (I am not rich, are you?)
When asked how these new tax dollars would be spent, she replied:
'We need to raise the standard of living of our poor, unemployed and minorities. For example, we have an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in our country who need our help along with millions of unemployed minorities. Stock market windfall profits taxes could go a long way to guarantee these people the standard of living they would like to have as 'Americans'.'
(Read that quote again and again and let it sink in.)
'Lower your retirement, give it to others who have not worked as you have for it'.
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