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Like The VRA Never Happened

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I blogged recently about Georgia’s unconstitutional Voter ID requirement, noting that it would be far more effective in longstanding conservative efforts to suppress the African-American vote than in actually preventing fraud. Don’t believe me? Let’s hear the idealistic sentiments of the law’s chief sponsor:


The chief sponsor of Georgia’s voter identification law told the Justice Department that if black people in her district “are not paid to vote, they don’t go to the polls,” and that if fewer blacks vote as a result of the new law, it is only because it would end such voting fraud.

The newly released Justice Department memo quoting state Rep. Sue Burmeister (R-Augusta) was prepared by department lawyers as the federal government considered whether to approve the new law. It also says that despite Republican assurances the law would not disenfranchise elderly, poor and black voters, Susan Laccetti Meyers, the staff adviser for the Georgia House of Representatives, told the Justice Department “the Legislature did not conduct any statistical analysis of the effect of the photo ID requirement on minority voters.”

Lovely. Also, remember that the federal oversight required by the Voting Rights Act will sunset, and what the consequences of not extending the provisions would be:

Georgia Democrats reacted angrily to the memo and to reports that the department had approved the voter ID law even though staff attorneys recommended against it. They said the law is the most blatant evidence that Georgia’s election laws should remain under federal scrutiny, as required by the 1965 Voting Rights Act, despite attempts by Georgia Republicans to free the state from federal oversight.

Via iocaste, who also notes that the professional lawyers in the Justice Department who rejected the Georgia legislation were overruled by Bush’s goonish hacks. As long as Republicans control the White House, it doesn’t really matter whether the Voting Rights Act is in place or not.

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