Our Position on Georgia's new Voter ID Law

After an analysis of the new Voter ID law (SB-86) the Common Cause Georgia Governing Board has come to an agreement on our position.  First we believe that the current law corrects some of the problems with the first Voter ID law - for example it creates centers in every county to obtain an ID at no cost to the voter.  These changes go a long way toward making the law more acceptable because the main objection a Federal Court had with last years law was that there was a cost associated with obtaining one, and that amounted to an unconstitutional poll tax.

We believe the new law imposes a burden on some voters because it attempts to preventing one form of fraud, while entirely ignoring substantial evidence of fraud in absentee voting and voter registration.  The Secretary of State's office has gone on the record as stating that in the past decade no such instance of voter fraud at the polls has been reported in Georgia.

Also of concern to Common Cause Georgia is that this law goes into effect immediately.  We do not believe that is a realistic time frame needed to buy and set up the new equipment to issue the new IDs, train and educate election officials in all 159 counties, and allow Georgia voters to re-register prior to the primaries which are less than 6 months away! To be implemented fairly, this process should take place over a more reasonable period of time.

If Georgia's legislators believe that the current rules requiring identification at the polling place need fixing, there are better ways to address the problem of possible fraudulent voting without inconveniencing or placing an additional burden on voters. 

As you read this article lawyers representing Common Cause Georgia and a number of other advocacy groups are preparing to fight this new law court.  There is the possibility this case could reach the Supreme Court and if it does the Secretary of State's office, who is the defendant in this case, estimated that the legal fees could end up costing Georgia taxpayers over $2 million.

We will continue to keep our web site updated with all the latest news regarding our fight against Georgia's new Voter ID law.