DOJ Halts Verification Of Voter Citizenship... - Dallas Cowboys Forum

JBond · 06-02-2009

[FONT=Courier New]DOJ HALTS VERIFICATION OF VOTER CITIZENSHIP...[/FONT]

Feds spike voter citizenship checks in Georgia
By SHANNON McCAFFREY, The Associated Press
4:09 p.m. June 1, 2009

ATLANTA — The Justice Department has rejected Georgia's system of using Social Security numbers and driver's license data to check whether prospective voters are citizens, a process that was a subject of a federal lawsuit in the weeks leading up to November's election.

In a letter released on Monday, the Justice Department said the state's voter verification program is frequently inaccurate and has a "discriminatory effect" on minority voters. The decision means Georgia must halt the citizenship checks, although the state can still ask the Justice Department to reconsider, according to the letter and to the Georgia secretary of state's office.

"This flawed system frequently subjects a disproportionate number of African-American, Asian and/or Hispanic voters to additional, and more importantly, erroneous burdens on the right to register to vote," Loretta King, acting assistant attorney general of the Justice Department's civil rights division, said. King's letter was sent to Georgia Attorney General Thurbert Baker on Friday.

The decision comes as Georgia awaits word on whether a law passed in the spring that requires newly registering voters to show proof of citizenship will pass muster with DOJ. Under the law that takes effect in January, people must show their proof up front compared to doing checks through databases.

A three-judge federal panel in October ordered the state to seek Justice Department preclearance for the checks under the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the same reason the federal agency must sign off on the new law that made Georgia only the second state after Arizona to require such proof. Georgia is one of several states that need federal approval before changing election rules because of a history of discriminatory Jim Crow-era voting practices.

Secretary of State Karen Handel blasted DOJ's decision, saying it opens the floodgates for non-citizens to vote in the state.
"Clearly, politics took priority over common sense and good public policy," said Handel, a Republican candidate for governor in 2010.
Justice Department officials said the citizenship match through driver's license and Social Security data has flagged 7,007 individuals as non-citizens but that many have been shown to be in error.
"Thousands of citizens who are in fact eligible to vote under Georgia law have been flagged," the Justice Department letter said.

The Justice Department decision marks the first time the new Democratic Obama administration has weighed in on Georgia's election laws. It is also the first time the Justice Department has rejected a change in election procedures by Georgia since the 1990s, according to a spokesman for the Georgia attorney general.

"We are pleased with this decision," said Elise Shore, Southeastern Regional Counsel of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund. "It vindicates our filing of the lawsuit."
But Handel said that more than 2,100 people who attempted to register in Georgia still have not resolved questions regarding their citizenship. Her office's inspector general is investigating more than 30 cases of non-citizens casting ballots in Georgia elections, including the case of a Henry County non-citizen who said she registered to vote and cast ballots in 2004 and 2006.

Handel said the checks were designed to follow federal guidelines to ensure the integrity of the vote and that those eligible are casting ballots.
But the ACLU and the Mexican American defense fund sued, saying the efforts amounted to a "systematic purging" of rolls just weeks before the election.

Separately, the U.S., Supreme Court is considering a challenge to the portion of the Voting Rights Act requiring Georgia and select other states to seek approval before tinkering with election law.

Yeagermeister · 06-02-2009

Unbelievable.....no wait it is believable now days. It doesn't matter any more if you have the right to vote just that you get to vote.

How is making sure the person is a citizen discriminating?

Geez Louise

iceberg · 06-02-2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yeagermeister

Unbelievable.....no wait it is believable now days. It doesn't matter any more if you have the right to vote just that you get to vote.

How is making sure the person is a citizen discriminating?

Geez Louise

this is what i don't understand.

you have to be an american citizen to vote.
but we don't check to see if you are.
but if you buy a gun, you damn well better prove a LOT of things to get it accomplished.

so how do they propose citizenship is validated?

Yeagermeister · 06-02-2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by iceberg

this is what i don't understand.

you have to be an american citizen to vote.
but we don't check to see if you are.
but if you buy a gun, you damn well better prove a LOT of things to get it accomplished.

so how do they propose citizenship is validated?

We don't.....let everyone vote early and often

iceberg · 06-02-2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yeagermeister

We don't.....let everyone vote early and often

it's turning into a classic symbol of diminished value by trying to make everyone "happy".

being able to vote is about to become a joke and a popularity contest, if it hasn't already. but to freely give away what so many before us have died to protect?

that not liberal, that's damn insulting.

DIAF · 06-02-2009

Well, they have a point on the "inaccuracies" thing. I've been hearing about this damn thing for two years now, and there's been multiple complaints about the accuracy of the system. Which doesn't surprise me, the state government couldn't find their shoes without a roadmap. According to the AJC, the system flagged 7000 voters, and 50% of them were flagged incorrectly. That's a 50% failure rate in your voter verification system. However in Georgia we have Voter ID laws, and I don't think this article is talking about those. You still have to present a valid ID or state-issued voter ID to vote. Judging from the ruling's wording, it looks like only the accuracy of the system is called into question.

Here's the story from the AJC.

http://www.ajc.com/business/content/...migration.html

Quote:

In a six-page letter issued last week, and released Monday, Justice Department lawyers said Handel’s office had created a system that “does not produce accurate and reliable information and that thousands of citizens who are in fact eligible to vote under Georgia law have been flagged.”

Handel and her aides created the system in 2007 under the requirements of the federal Help America Vote Act. The law requires states to verify a voter’s identity at the time of registration, but not necessarily to verify citizenship. In creating the system, Handel’s office extended the verification process to include citizenship; something the Justice Department said was “discretionary on the state’s part.”

But the system that was created, the federal lawyers found, was flawed and of the 7,000 individuals flagged as potential “non-citizens,” more than 50 percent were actually U.S. citizens.

I'm sorry, but that's unacceptable. Fix the system, devise a new one, but this one is a piece of crap and the DoJ was right to strike it down, unfortunately.

I think a lot of you, not being Georgians, are going to misunderstand this decision as one to allow "voting with no verification". Which is totally untrue. Our Voter ID law is highly controversial but it is still in place. The thing the DoJ is striking down is a secondary verification.

iceberg · 06-02-2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by DIAF

Well, they have a point on the "inaccuracies" thing. I've been hearing about this damn thing for two years now, and there's been multiple complaints about the accuracy of the system. Which doesn't surprise me, the state government couldn't find their shoes without a roadmap. According to the AJC, the system flagged 7000 voters, and 50% of them were flagged incorrectly. That's a 50% failure rate in your voter verification system. However in Georgia we have Voter ID laws, and I don't think this article is talking about those. You still have to present a valid ID or state-issued voter ID to vote. Judging from the ruling's wording, it looks like only the accuracy of the system is called into question.

Here's the story from the AJC.

http://www.ajc.com/business/content/...migration.html

[View Full Quote]

possible - thank you for the additional info.

Yeagermeister · 06-02-2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by DIAF

Well, they have a point on the "inaccuracies" thing. I've been hearing about this damn thing for two years now, and there's been multiple complaints about the accuracy of the system. Which doesn't surprise me, the state government couldn't find their shoes without a roadmap. According to the AJC, the system flagged 7000 voters, and 50% of them were flagged incorrectly. That's a 50% failure rate in your voter verification system. However in Georgia we have Voter ID laws, and I don't think this article is talking about those. You still have to present a valid ID or state-issued voter ID to vote. Judging from the ruling's wording, it looks like only the accuracy of the system is called into question.

Here's the story from the AJC.

http://www.ajc.com/business/content/...migration.html

[View Full Quote]

Quote:

Originally Posted by iceberg

possible - thank you for the additional info.

Yes thank you.....as long as the voters are being verified

zrinkill · 06-02-2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by DIAF

Well, they have a point on the "inaccuracies" thing. I've been hearing about this damn thing for two years now, and there's been multiple complaints about the accuracy of the system. Which doesn't surprise me, the state government couldn't find their shoes without a roadmap. According to the AJC, the system flagged 7000 voters, and 50% of them were flagged incorrectly. That's a 50% failure rate in your voter verification system. However in Georgia we have Voter ID laws, and I don't think this article is talking about those. You still have to present a valid ID or state-issued voter ID to vote. Judging from the ruling's wording, it looks like only the accuracy of the system is called into question.

Here's the story from the AJC.

http://www.ajc.com/business/content/...migration.html

[View Full Quote]

Good job providing more information.

DaBoys4Life · 06-02-2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by iceberg

it's turning into a classic symbol of diminished value by trying to make everyone "happy".

being able to vote is about to become a joke and a popularity contest, if it hasn't already. but to freely give away what so many before us have died to protect?

that not liberal, that's damn insulting.

don't forget about those who died for the right to vote.

**ABQCOWBOY** · 06-02-2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yeagermeister

Geez Louise

That's "Louisa" to you Bub.

burmafrd · 06-02-2009

At least they require ID to vote. The Libs are against even that.