Thread: GA: Judge won’t stop Georgia voter citizenship checks

Article published Thursday, October 16, 2008
Judge won’t stop Georgia voter citizenship checks
ASSOCIATED PRESS

ATLANTA — A federal judge denied a request by voting rights groups to stop Georgia from asking new voters to prove their identities and citizenship, saying Thursday that halting the checks could harm the integrity of the Nov. 4 election.

The groups argued in a lawsuit filed last week that the checks, which involve matching voting applications with driver’s license and Social Security data, amount to a “systematic purgingâ€

All they have to do is go to the supreme court because I think they just ruled that voter reg dont need to be checked in Ohio. Im assuming that will apply throughout the country. We no longer have fair elections in what used to be the US. This election is rigged, thats why the politicions are no longer afraid of the people. Within 4 years we will become like the former Soviet Union. I gaurantee you they will get rid of the dollar and everybody that has a savings account will see their money worthless. I am so upset about the loss of our country I cant type

The lawsuit centers on Jose Morales, who became a U.S. citizen in November, 2007, and registered to vote last month. Two weeks after the college student registered, he received a letter from Cherokee County that demanded he provide evidence of his citizenship, according to the complaint.

That is NOT an unreasonable request.

I live in Georgia--I was born in America. I served in the military in time of conflict. I registered to vote as a young man as soon as I was able. I have seldom missed an opportunity and my duty to vote. I am about to vote for president for the 15th time.

If Georgia, (or Uncle Sam), wants me to take a test, a blood test, a DNA test just about any kind of test to ensure that I am a legal voter, I will do so and cheerfully. I cherish my right (and obligation) to vote. I will not waste it, I do not waste it and any son of a gun who is so darned busy or so taken with his/her "rights" being violated to refuse to prove that you are who you say you are and eligible for the great honor of voting in an American election, pack your gd bags and get out of town. I do not want to hear it.

End sought to checks for voters' citizenship
Thursday, October 23, 2008

ATLANTA --- Voting rights groups in Georgia again tried Wednesday to stop election officials from using Social Security numbers and driver's license data to check voters' immigration status.

The advocacy groups told a federal three-judge panel that using the data to verify whether voters are citizens amounts to a "systematic purging" of voting rolls that must be approved by the Justice Department.

Georgia is one of several states that needs federal approval before changing election policy because of a history of discriminatory voting practices.

Three Justice Department lawyers joined the debate Wednesday, arguing that Georgia officials should have cleared the checks with them first. But they cautioned against making sweeping changes less than two weeks before the Nov. 4 election.

Secretary of State Karen Handel's attorneys argued the checks were required by federal law and were an attempt to guarantee the integrity of the vote.

The judges said they will rule as soon as possible.

State attorney Dennis Dunn said the checks have so far flagged 4,538 voters, 3,821 of them newly registered, as noncitizens.

The fight centers on Jose Morales, a college student who became a U.S. citizen in November 2007 and registered to vote last month. He has twice received letters that warn him his name could be removed from voter rolls if he does not verify his citizenship.

The voting rights groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, say the letters are a form of intimidation.

http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/10 ... 0491.shtml

These traitors just can not stand the fact that only U.S. citizens can vote in our elections...

Voting rights groups in Georgia again tried Wednesday to stop election officials from using Social Security numbers and driver's license data to check voters' immigration status

And how can there be any doubt left, whatsoever, that illegal invaders are voting in and undermining our elections! It doesn't get any clearer than this!

Panel: Ga. checks should have been cleared by feds
By GREG BLUESTEIN, Associated Press Writer Greg Bluestein, Associated Press Writer Mon Oct 27, 8:01 pm ET

ATLANTA – Georgia should have sought U.S. Justice Department approval before implementing a new process of using Social Security numbers and driver's license data to check voters' immigration status, a three-judge federal panel ruled Monday.

The 27-page ruling ordered Georgia election officials to make "diligent and immediate" efforts to notify voters flagged as ineligible because of the checks that they can still cast paper ballots on Nov. 4. The paper ballots can later be challenged by state officials if a voter is believed to be ineligible.

The state also is not allowed to remove names from lists unless voters say in writing that they are ineligible.

Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel said her office will continue to screen voters, which she said was crucial to verify that applicants are eligible to "ensure the integrity of our elections." The Justice Department is still considering the case and the panel's list of directives did not include an order to immediately stop the checks.

State attorney Dennis Dunn said at a hearing last week that the checks have flagged 4,538 applicants as non-citizens, 3,821 of them newly registered. The state has about 5.6 million registered voters.

Monday's ruling was a result of a challenge filed this month by voting rights groups that claimed using the data to verify voters' citizenship amounts to a "systematic purging" of rolls that must first be approved by the Justice Department. Georgia is one of several states that needs federal approval before changing election policy because of a history of discriminatory voting practices.

Handel said state attorneys, not her employees, decided against sending the election changes to Washington.

Georgia is not alone in dealing with voting questions a week before the election.

Virginia's attorney general told state election officials Monday that they must count hundreds and possibly thousands of federal absentee ballots despite a state law ordering many to be cast aside.

A dispute arose last week after Fairfax County's registrar said state law bars him from counting more than 250 federal absentee ballots because the witnesses failed to include their address on the application, as required by a 2002 state law.

But Republican Virginia Attorney General Robert McDonnell said federal law calls for the ballots to be counted and trumps state law on the issue.

In Georgia's dispute, voting rights groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, filed a lawsuit this month seeking to immediately halt the voter checks.

A federal judge denied the request last week on grounds that halting the screenings could lead to "significant voter confusion" before the election. But he left the door open for the three-judge panel, which issued its order "as a temporary remedy" until the Justice Department makes a decision.

Handel, a Republican who oversees Georgia elections, said her office was already implementing many of the panel's directives.

"I welcome the decision," she said. "What they directed us to do mirrors what we had been doing."

Laughlin McDonald, a voting rights attorney with the ACLU, said he was pleased the panel offered a "strong remedy" to clarify what had been a cloudy issue.

"The court went out of its way to balance the interests of the state and the voters, and I think it did a good job of doing that," he said.

The panel seemed focused on treading a fine line between the competing interests just days before the Nov. 4 election. It concluded that its directives are the best way to forge a compromise between the election officials and advocate groups.

"This remedy is designed and intended to reasonably ensure that no eligible voter is denied the right to cast a vote that can be counted later, and that no ineligible voter is allowed to cast a ballot that cannot be discounted later," it stated.

http://news.yahoo.com