South Carolina Voter ID Law: State Attorney General Sues Justice Department For Blocking Measure

[Judi Lynn]

South Carolina Voter ID Law: State Attorney General Sues Justice Department For Blocking Measure
By MEG KINNARD 02/ 7/12 01:30 PM ET

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- South Carolina says in a lawsuit that the U.S. Justice Department was wrong to block the state from requiring voters to show government-issued photo identification to vote.

Attorney General Alan Wilson asks a judge to overturn the federal government decision in a lawsuit filed Tuesday.

The Justice Department in December rejected South Carolina's law requiring voters to show photo identification at the polls. The agency said the law didn't meet the burden under the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which outlawed discriminatory practices that prevented blacks from voting and requires South Carolina to get federal permission for every change to state election laws.

It was the first voter ID law to be refused by the federal agency in nearly 20 years.

More:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/07/south-carolina-voter-id-law-lawsuit-justice-department_n_1260369.html?ref=politics

[DCKit]

1. Free, state issued IDs would go a long way toward resolving this issue.

Then again, that'd keep the DOJ hopping when people were denied IDs for not having the correct documentation.

[Selatius]

2. If people must pay for these IDs, it would amount to a poll tax, which is highly illegal.

The Republicans and conservative Democrats who pushed this law in South Carolina should rightly allot money to pay for IDs for voters if they are so insistent on identifying voters at the polls. It is only fair.

[Firebrand Gary]

3. What that says to me is that the GOP is expect a loss in November.

Very telling.