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Friday, October 28, 2005

Georgia poll tax overturned

A federal appeals court upholds the lower court opinion that Georgia's voter-ID law amounted to a "poll tax," just in time for the Nov. 8 elections:
In a case that some have called a showdown over voting rights, a U.S. appeals court yesterday upheld an injunction barring the state of Georgia from enforcing a law requiring citizens to get government-issued photo identification in order to vote.

The ruling allows thousands of Georgians who do not have government-issued identification, such as driver's licenses and passports, to vote in the Nov. 8 municipal elections without obtaining a special digital identification card, which costs $20 for five years. In prior elections, Georgians could use any one of 17 types of identification that show the person's name and address, including a driver's license, utility bill, bank statement or a paycheck, to gain access to a voting booth.
You'll remember that one of the small problems with the law was that there are no offices that sold the new ID cards in the entire city of Atlanta.
posted by Chris Kromm at 1:09 PM | Email this post | Post a Comment
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CHRIS KROMM blogs three days a week for Facing South. Chris is Executive Director of the Institute for Southern Studies and publisher of the Institute’s award-winning magazine, Southern Exposure.

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