Challenge to Georgia Photo ID Law

by Jon Greenbaum

September 25, 2005: A consortium of voting rights advocates and private attorneys filed suit today in federal district court in Rome, Georgia, challenging Georgia House Bill 244, charging the law violates the state and federal constitutions, the 1965 Voting Rights Act, and the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

The measure being challenged, which was signed into law by Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue in April of 2005, reduces the various forms of identification that voters can use from 17 to six, and makes government issued photo identification absolutely required in order to vote. The lawsuit was filed against state and local election officials and asks the federal court to declare H.B. 244 "unconstitutional, null and void," and issue both a preliminary and permanent injunction against implementation of the law.

Organizational plaintiffs include the NAACP, Common Cause/Georgia, the League of Women Voters of Georgia; the Central Presbyterian Outreach and Advocacy Center; the Georgia Association of Black Elected Officials; the Georgia Legislative Black Caucus and; Concerned Black Clergy of Metropolitan Atlanta. Other groups that are providing legal counsel to the effort include the ACLU, AARP, Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) and the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. The lawsuit also was filed on behalf two individual voters: Mr. Tony Watkins, a black resident of Rome, and Mrs. Clara Williams, a black resident of Fulton County. Each of the individual plaintiffs is legally registered and qualified to vote, but does not possess a Georgia driver’s license, passport or other form of photo ID specified in H.B. 244.

Voting rights advocates decided to bring the lawsuit after the U.S. Department of Justice granted pre-clearance to the measure on August 26. Because of Georgia's history of voting discrimination, the 1965 Voting Rights Act requires that any changes to election laws or voting procedures receive clearance from federal officials before going into effect. "This broad-based group of plaintiffs has taken on the task to ensure that this discriminatory law is struck down after the Department of Justice failed to do its job," stated Jon Greenbaum, Director of Voting Rights Project of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law in Washington, D.C.

Read the Preliminary Injunction Order here.