Georgia on my mind.
Georgia has (or had) a new voter-identification law. Citizens without drivers’ licenses have to pay $20 or more for the documentation necessary to vote. Some have called it a modern-day poll tax, intended to keep blacks and poor people from voting and yesterday a federal judge agreed and blocked the law from taking effect.
Georgia Republicans pushed the bill through the Legislature this year, creating the nation's toughest voter-identification requirements. And when it passed, most of the state's black legislators walked out of the Capitol in protest. Under this new law, voters with driver's licenses are not inconvenienced. But it creates a huge obstacle for voters without licenses, who are disproportionately poor and black. What is required is an official state picture-identification card, and the payment of processing fees of $20 or more. Would you believe this - there was not one office in Atlanta where these identification cards were for sale?
For shame! And on a national level, Republicans should repudiate their Georgia brethren.
Actually, part of the law that was signed provided for FREE ID cards for anyone who did not have a driver's license.
ReplyDeleteNot quite true...according to FAUX news site, "A driver's license with a photo is sufficient under the law. But those who do not have a license must obtain a state ID card, which can cost up to $35. The governor said such cards would be given free to those who cannot afford the fee." And there's the rub, who determines that you cannot afford it?
ReplyDelete