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U.S.
District Judge Harold Murphy said the Georgia photo
ID requirement "imposes a poll tax." In his
decision released today, Murphy said:
"The
photo ID requirement unduly burdens the right of many
properly registered Georgia voters to vote, is a poll
tax, and has the likely effect of causing many of those
voters to forego voting or of precluding those voters
from voting at the polls. Because the right to vote
is a fundamental right, removing the undue burdens on
that right imposed by the photo ID requirement serves
the public interest. This factor therefore counsels
in favor of granting plaintiffs' motion for preliminary
injunction."
Murphy
said the requirement for photo identification would
"most likely to prevent Georgia's elderly, poor
and African-American voters from voting." The judge
said: "For those citizens, the character and magnitude
of their injury - the loss of their right to vote -
is undeniably demoralizing and extreme."
Recent
census data shows that African Americans in Georgia
are nearly five times less likely than whites to have
access to a motor vehicle, thus would be less likely
to have a photo ID. Moreover, there are only 56 locations
in Georgia that issue the primary identification required
by the new law. Many of Georgia's citizens in rural
areas who do not have accessible transportation may
need to travel through two counties to reach a Department
of Motor Vehicle Services (DMVS) office.
Georgia
recently eliminated the only two DMVS locations inside
the City of Atlanta, the state capital where a substantial
number of African Americans live. A person living Atlanta
must now travel 10-15 miles to access a DMVS office.
Today's
ruling could prevent the use of the photo ID law during
the municipal elections November 8. The lawsuit filed
by the NAACP and other voting rights advocates charges
that in addition to violating the Voting Rights Act,
the state law violates the Fourteenth Amendment because
it treats voters unequally and violates the Georgia
Constitution because it creates an entirely new set
of voting qualifications beyond those specified in the
State Constitution.
Nineteen
states require voters to show identification, but only
five request photo ID, according to the National Conference
of State Legislatures. Those states - Arizona, Florida,
Louisiana, South Carolina and South Dakota - allow voters
without a photo ID to use other forms of identification
or sign an affidavit of identity.
Founded
in 1909, the NAACP is the nation's oldest and largest
civil rights organization. Its half-million adult and
youth members throughout the United States and the world
are the premier advocates for civil rights in their
communities, conducting voter mobilization and monitoring
equal opportunity in the public and private sectors.
PRESS CONTACT:
NAACP Office of Communications
410-580-5125
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