Posted on 07/07/2006 10:46:15 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
ATLANTA - With less than two weeks to go before the July 18 primary, a judge Friday issued a restraining order blocking Georgia's voter ID law, saying that requiring photos as proof of identity is an unconstitutional burden.
Superior Court Judge Melvin Westmoreland said in a sharply worded written ruling that the Legislature doesn't have the authority to enforce the law and an amendment to the state Constitution would be required instead.
The law, he said, "unduly burdens the fundamental right to vote rather than regulate it."
The law requires that every voter who casts a ballot in person provide a valid, government-issued photo ID. The state made such IDs available throughout the state, but former Georgia Gov. Roy Barnes, a Democrat, argued in court Thursday on behalf of two residents that the law would keep poor, elderly and minority voters from the polls.
Barnes said Friday he was pleased with the ruling.
"I think what we heard today loud and clear is don't allow the vagaries of political partisanship to change the basic fundamental rights of our people," he said. "All this law did was create a bureaucracy and a burden to vote."
The state plans to appeal the ruling to the state Supreme Court.
"Democracy only works because people have trust in the integrity of the ballot box," said Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue, who signed the voter ID measure into law earlier this year. "I respectfully disagree with Judge Westmoreland, and believe that Georgia's law is not only constitutional, but a common sense, prudent protection of the election process."
The 17 forms of identification — some with photos and some without — that had been allowed in previous elections can be used at the polls for the primary, Westmoreland ruled. Voters who lack one of those IDs can also continue to attest to their identity under oath, pending further court action.
Westmoreland referred the case back to the trial judge in a case Barnes filed on behalf of two people who he said lacked the photo ID needed to vote. No further hearings were immediately scheduled.
Georgia's Republican-led Legislature first adopted a voter ID law in 2005, but a federal judge blocked its enforcement, saying it amounted to an unconstitutional poll tax. Early this year, lawmakers amended the law to make the IDs free and to ensure they are available in each of the state's 159 counties.
A separate, federal challenge to the voter ID law is also pending. Arguments in that case were scheduled for Wednesday.
New Orleans refugees?
This has got to be stopped - democracy is out the window. The activist judges are becoming the ruling class - They overrule votes of the people AND laws passed by the duly elected legislature -
How long are they going to be allowed to get away with this?
Go tell that to the Mexicans, Judge. They require photo ID to vote and just had a very orderly and, by most accounts, including international observers, an amazingly fraud fee election.
Or maybe your satisfied with a lower standard than Mexico for the US.....so you can retain power - with down home fraud!!
Biggest load of crap I've ever heard.
This is crazy.
The 'Feds' have to ensure that the 26th Amendment is enforced and ensure that everyone is 18 and older who votes. One of the ways to ensure this is with a photo ID to match their birth cert.
As many people have said before if you need photo ID to buy Sam Adams at the least you have to show it to vote.
A Judge, aiding and abetting the planning of a felony. Ain't that rich? Attention all dummies,,,you use te SAME ID you used to REGISTER. That hard to understrand? Where ya from, New York???
"As many people have said before if you need photo ID to buy Sam Adams at the least you have to show it to vote."
So I guess soon, we won't need photo ID to buy alcohol. Then minors can vote drunk. Twice!
Hon. Melvin K. Westmoreland
Firm: State of Georgia, Superior Court, Atlanta Judicial Circuit
Address: Fulton County Courthouse
136 Pryor St., SW. Room C-155
Atlanta, GA 30303
Phone: (404) 335-2570
Fax: (404) 335-2865
E-mail: Contact Us
Web site: http://www.fultoncourt.org/
urrent Employment Position(s):
Judge
Bar Admissions:
Georgia, 1977
Profile Last Updated:
10/26/2005
Melvin K. Westmoreland Rebecca Conrad (404) 335-2572 4A JCT
Not much meat in that ruling and absolutely NO reference to the particular part of the constitution he is invoking.
Look South - Americans could learn from Mexican elections. --Despite this ruckus, Mexicans have something to teach Americans about how to run an election. Many types of vote fraud that have been alleged in American elections simply could not occur in Mexico. After Mexico’s 1988 election, when the Institutional Revolutionary party (PRI) was accused of staging a computer crash that gave them the votes needed to stay in power, major reforms were implemented. To begin, Mexico spends much more than the U.S. on measures to prevent vote fraud. All voters in Mexico must present voter IDs at the polls, which include not only a photo but also a thumbprint. Opponents of a photo-voter-ID system in the United States argue that any such system would keep voters from the polls — and would impact mostly lower-income voters. Yet in Mexico, where about 40 percent of the population is below the poverty line, strict voter-ID rules have actually increased voter turnout .
The Mexican government can demand a photo ID of its citizens, but the State of Georgia finds itself with so many idiots that it becomes a burden on voters? Give me a break! The Democrats simply don't want to lose their ability to cheat. If lawyers are parasites who feed on the body politic, what are judges? Chancres?
Seems to me the Repubs are milquetoasting the real issue here. People using the loose ID rules to vote multiple times. Each multiple vote effectively cancels the vote of an American citizen and violates their civil rights.
When they catch the Dems red handed they need to scream loudly and prosecute instead of just letting it fade away. It only emboldens them.
But, hopefully, the Georgia Supreme court will bitch slap this judge just like it did the one who ruled the gay marriage amendment unconstitutional.
NYS requires ID to get a fishing license. Then you've got to wait while they run your ID. Pretty bad when you have to go through more rigamarole to fish than to vote
What an absolute moronic finding! So photo ID is unconstitutional? What about Drivers Licenses? What about Passports? What about workplace ID badges? The purpose of all of these photo IDs is to identify the person holding the badge or license. It seems rather stupid beyond incredible that such a finding would be put forth by someone with a brain that works. These people are corrupt and/or they have a mental disorder! We are dealing with very sick people here!
So much for the libs' love of foreign law....
The only thing wrong with that statement is the word "respectfully."
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