one step forward, a couple million steps back
Um, hell no.
The U.S. Department of Justice has told Georgia officials that their efforts to verify the identities and citizenship of registered voters amount to substantial changes to state policy and are unenforceable without approval under the Voting Rights Act.
Georgia Attorney General Thurbert Baker received the letter at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, his spokesman said.
.... The letter comes days after the Social Security Administration questioned the state’s high volume of requests to verify voter identities. Georgia’s 2 million requests surpassed those of any other state.
The state is also examining the citizenship of some Georgia voters. As of Friday, the secretary of state had asked counties to check the status of 2,675 individuals whose driver license records indicated they were not citizens, but who had registered to vote, Carrothers said.
“It’s imperative that the information provided by the voter is true and they are who say they are,” Carrothers said.
Barack Obama’s campaign said it worried that legitimate voters could be mistakenly flagged by the verification system and be denied their right to vote.
.... Some county elections offices have sent letters to residents questioning their right to vote based on checks that Handel’s office has run against data from the Department of Driver Services and the Social Security Administration. Cobb County asked voters whose citizenship the state questioned to attend a hearing Monday, warning that their names would be removed from the list of registered voters if they failed to attend or provide proof beforehand.
.... A mismatch, and thus a question about a voter’s eligibility, could be triggered by a name change, such as for a marriage or divorce, that’s reported to a county voter registration office, but that doesn’t appear in one of the other government databases. For new citizens, the letters could be triggered if someone applied for a license when they had a green card, but subsequently became a citizen.
Gee. I have no idea why state officials would feel the need to diligently check the citizenship status of two million Georgians. I mean, it couldn't possibly because there's a national election in less than four weeks. I can't imagine if has anything to do with how one of our distinguished senators, Saxby Chambliss (the lovely man who ran a campaign ad in 2006 morphing his opponent, Vietnam vet Max Cleland, into Osama bin Ladin), has been tanking in the polls. And I'm certain it couldn't possibly have anything to do with Obama's recent surge here-- polls show him trailing McCain by just under six percent, which is pretty damn remarkable. And I'm sure this has nothing to do with the expected record voter turnout, especially among minority groups.
Gosh. How very, very odd.
Now, if you'll forgive me, I have some BLINDINGLY ANGRY letters I need to write to my representatives. You're welcome to come and join me, if you like.
The U.S. Department of Justice has told Georgia officials that their efforts to verify the identities and citizenship of registered voters amount to substantial changes to state policy and are unenforceable without approval under the Voting Rights Act.
Georgia Attorney General Thurbert Baker received the letter at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, his spokesman said.
.... The letter comes days after the Social Security Administration questioned the state’s high volume of requests to verify voter identities. Georgia’s 2 million requests surpassed those of any other state.
The state is also examining the citizenship of some Georgia voters. As of Friday, the secretary of state had asked counties to check the status of 2,675 individuals whose driver license records indicated they were not citizens, but who had registered to vote, Carrothers said.
“It’s imperative that the information provided by the voter is true and they are who say they are,” Carrothers said.
Barack Obama’s campaign said it worried that legitimate voters could be mistakenly flagged by the verification system and be denied their right to vote.
.... Some county elections offices have sent letters to residents questioning their right to vote based on checks that Handel’s office has run against data from the Department of Driver Services and the Social Security Administration. Cobb County asked voters whose citizenship the state questioned to attend a hearing Monday, warning that their names would be removed from the list of registered voters if they failed to attend or provide proof beforehand.
.... A mismatch, and thus a question about a voter’s eligibility, could be triggered by a name change, such as for a marriage or divorce, that’s reported to a county voter registration office, but that doesn’t appear in one of the other government databases. For new citizens, the letters could be triggered if someone applied for a license when they had a green card, but subsequently became a citizen.
Gee. I have no idea why state officials would feel the need to diligently check the citizenship status of two million Georgians. I mean, it couldn't possibly because there's a national election in less than four weeks. I can't imagine if has anything to do with how one of our distinguished senators, Saxby Chambliss (the lovely man who ran a campaign ad in 2006 morphing his opponent, Vietnam vet Max Cleland, into Osama bin Ladin), has been tanking in the polls. And I'm certain it couldn't possibly have anything to do with Obama's recent surge here-- polls show him trailing McCain by just under six percent, which is pretty damn remarkable. And I'm sure this has nothing to do with the expected record voter turnout, especially among minority groups.
Gosh. How very, very odd.
Now, if you'll forgive me, I have some BLINDINGLY ANGRY letters I need to write to my representatives. You're welcome to come and join me, if you like.