Judge Issues Restraining Order Ga. ID Law
By SHANNON McCAFFREY, Associated Press Writer
3 hours ago

ATLANTA - With less than two weeks to go before the July 18 primary, a judge Friday issued a restraining order blocking Georgia's voter ID law, saying that requiring photos as proof of identity is an unconstitutional burden.

Superior Court Judge Melvin Westmoreland said in a sharply worded written ruling that the Legislature doesn't have the authority to enforce the law and an amendment to the state Constitution would be required instead.

The law, he said, "unduly burdens the fundamental right to vote rather than regulate it."

The law requires that every voter who casts a ballot in person provide a valid, government-issued photo ID. The state made such IDs available throughout the state, but former Georgia Gov. Roy Barnes, a Democrat, argued in court Thursday on behalf of two residents that the law would keep poor, elderly and minority voters from the polls.

Barnes said Friday he was pleased with the ruling.

"I think what we heard today loud and clear is don't allow the vagaries of political partisanship to change the basic fundamental rights of our people," he said. "All this law did was create a bureaucracy and a burden to vote."

The state plans to appeal the ruling to the state Supreme Court.

"Democracy only works because people have trust in the integrity of the ballot box," said Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue, who signed the voter ID measure into law earlier this year. "I respectfully disagree with Judge Westmoreland, and believe that Georgia's law is not only constitutional, but a common sense, prudent protection of the election process."

The 17 forms of identification _ some with photos and some without _ that had been allowed in previous elections can be used at the polls for the primary, Westmoreland ruled. Voters who lack one of those IDs can also continue to attest to their identity under oath, pending further court action.

Westmoreland referred the case back to the trial judge in a case Barnes filed on behalf of two people who he said lacked the photo ID needed to vote. No further hearings were immediately scheduled.

Georgia's Republican-led Legislature first adopted a voter ID law in 2005, but a federal judge blocked its enforcement, saying it amounted to an unconstitutional poll tax. Early this year, lawmakers amended the law to make the IDs free and to ensure they are available in each of the state's 159 counties.

A separate, federal challenge to the voter ID law is also pending. Arguments in that case were scheduled for Wednesday.

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