Ugly New Turn in Republican War on Voters

[xchrom]

http://www.alternet.org/civil-liberties/ugly-new-turn-republican-war-voters



Once again, right-wing Republican politicans and Republican-appointed federal judges have undermined the right to vote.

In a U.S. District Court ruling Wednesday that could dramatically upend the voter registration process if it spreads across the country, a Kansas judge found that his state and Arizona can force new voters to show citizenship documents when registering to vote—as opposed to signing a legal oath on the federal voter registration form.

“State election officials maintain authority to determine voter eligibility,” wrote District Judge Eric Melgren, appointed by President George W. Bush, in a GOP-backed suit that went after an obscure agency, the Election Assistance Commssion, which designs the federal voter form found in post offices and used in registration drives. “Arizona and Kansas have established that their state laws require their election officials to assess the eligibility of voters by examining proof of their U.S. citizenship beyond a mere oath.”

The documentation, if upheld by higher courts, would mean that residents in these and other states with similar laws, like Georgia and Alabama, would have to present either a passport, birth certificate, naturalization or tribal papers to become a legal voter. A driver’s license, college ID, or signature given under penalty of perjury would no longer suffice. Thus, if Melgren’s decision—which follows a template laid out last June by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia in an earlier phase of this case—stands, the GOP’s right wing will have created a new barrier to voting.

[Downwinder]

1. Napoleonic code

Guilty until proven innocent.