U.S. Justice Department rejects Georgia voter screening
Update in bold below, at 5:25 p.m.
The U.S. Justice Department has rejected a program put together by Secretary of State Karen Handel to comb through state databases to detect ineligible voters who may not be U.S. citizens, calling it both inaccurate and discriminatory.
The system was used last year, in the months before the 2008 general election.
Download the DOJ letter here. It says, in part:
We have considered the accuracy of the state’s verification process. Our analysis shows that the state’s process 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….
An error as simple as transposition of one digit of a driver[s] license can lead to an erroneous notation of a non-match…..
….Although the state has not provided data on the racial and language minority characteristics of all registrants whose applications went through the verification process, we have been able to compare the composition of those persons whom the state has flagged for further inquiry because of a non-match with both the composition of newly registered voters in the state and the composition of existing registered voters….
[A]pplicants who are Hispanic, Asian or African-American are more likely than white applicants, to statistically significant degrees, to be flagged for additional scrutiny….
The Justice Department declined to share the stats that it said proved discrimination. “Internal deliberations and discussions regarding charging decisions are not something we can provide,” a spokesman said.
Secretary of State Karen Handel, a Republican candidate for governor, condemned the decision in a statement released this morning, saying it would open the floodgates to non-qualified voters. Handel also said the DOJ was a participant in the decision-making process that produced the program:
The decision by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to deny preclearance of Georgia’s already implemented citizenship verification process shows a shocking disregard for the integrity of our elections.
With this decision, DOJ has now barred Georgia from continuing the citizenship verification program that DOJ lawyers helped to craft. DOJ’s decision also nullifies the orders of two federal courts directing Georgia to implement the procedure for the 2008 general election.
The decision comes seven months after Georgia requested an expedited review of the preclearance submission.
DOJ has thrown open the door for activist organizations such as ACORN to register non-citizens to vote in Georgia’s elections, and the state has no ability to verify an applicant’s citizenship status or whether the individual even exists…. Clearly, politics took priority over common sense and good public policy.
Pay attention to this. This is the first Obama administration judgment on an election law passed by a Republican-dominated General Assembly.
It could be an indication of how the Justice Department will react to S.B. 86, a measure signed by Gov. Sonny Perdue last month which would require every new voter to present proof of citizenship upon registration.
Nor are all Republicans united on this. Randy Evans, the Republican appointee to the State Elections Board, called the screening program a “terrible waste of taxpayer dollars and a slap in the face of Latino voters.”
“And yes, I know this is the requested approval from the DOJ from the case from last year — in advance of the new legislation that is the SoS codification of the compromise ruling. But from the DOJ perspective, they are one and the same,” he wrote in one of two e-mails this afternoon.
The U.S. Supreme Court is currently considering arguments on the constitutionality of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, which requires federal approval of all changes to election law in Georgia and several other states with a history of discrimination.
U.S. Rep. Lynn Westmoreland, a Republican from Sharpsburg who has been critical of Georgia’s continued inclusion in the mandates of the Voting Rights Act, added the following this afternoon:
“Justice’s ruling in this case is so transparently political that I’d hate to be the person at the department who had to put the right spin on this junk.
This goes to the heart of what I’ve been trying to say about the problem with ‘preclearance’: It creates a self-justifying cycle.
Georgia works with the federal government on a plan, we submit the plan to those exact same people, and they then ‘discover’ some violation of civil rights and use that as evidence that Georgia still requires federal oversight. It’s infuriating.
Jon Greenbaum is legal director for Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, one of several groups that opposed the screening:
“We are pleased that the Department of Justice correctly found that Secretary Handel’s verification procedures are inaccurate and discriminatory. Preventing these procedures from going into effect will prevent Secretary Handel from keeping many thousands of eligible Georgia voters off the rolls,” he said.
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260 comments Add your comment
Stu Bioge
June 1st, 2009
11:07 am
polls not poles
Stu Bioge
June 1st, 2009
11:08 am
somebody’s not somebodies
Really?
June 1st, 2009
11:11 am
Wow!!! I guess I woke up on the wrong side of the bed and found myself in China. Voting in the USA, in case anyone cares is an AMERICAN CITIZENS right. Tell me how, verifying a residents status is a violation of their rights. The intention is not to prevent voting, it is to prevent illegal voting.
As for the Obama nation supporters…. You got exactly what was promised, an ultra liberal that believes that big government fixes all problems and will make everything fair. For anyone who believes this BS, please look around on your way home. The bigger government gets, the less efficient it becomes and problems spin out of control. But sleep well young people, our president will fix everything even if he has to bankrupt us to do it. Let the vote buying begin!!!
Koz
June 1st, 2009
11:11 am
Uh-oh the undercover Grammar police are here
EW
June 1st, 2009
11:13 am
Stu, I hope you are a grammar teacher on summer break and bored out of your mind. Otherwise, get a hobby.
CM
June 1st, 2009
11:13 am
Karen Handel gets on the defensive so easily. It surely does lead to the conclusion that she is far from the forthright thoughtful person she has pretensions to.
Karen, get a new photo … one showing you as the shrew you are.
GPO – stop playing party politics and insisting that only Democrats cheat and lie at the ballot box. If you’d fix absentee balloting, I could live with some of your inane requirements for voter id. You haven’t the courage to do that since much of your base votes absentee.
Tsh-tsh.
JJ
June 1st, 2009
11:14 am
Well, unless this is an ACORN conspiracy, you won’t be seeing this story covered on FOXnews…
middler and so tired of all the rhetoric :
June 1st, 2009
11:17 am
Strangely the only people and organizations trying to stem the nonexistent and nondocumented voting by unregistered and noneligible voters are Republicans. Where are the cases and numbers and prosecutions that should drive such initiatives and laws? How many little old ladies and gentlemen without driver’s licenses tried to vote illegally or multiple times? How many illegal aliens are trying to get past the League of Women Voters poll workers? Once upon a time only white, male, land owners of certain property levels, could vote. Does Ms. Handel want to go back to those days, not so far past, but slip in white women of the same status? I am one of those children of the sixties who marched for voter rights and wanted people of color and less than upper middle class status to vote next to me. We are so much better off for those changes why would we want to limit people, especially when the attempt is to keep Georgia voting Republican? Maybe the politicians should focus on serving all the constituents. If they truly serve us as they promise and vow their reelections would be assured. If the Republican Party truly served all of us they would still be in power in DC. There’s a lot more to Georgia than Cobb County and Alpharetta.
Eddie Murphy
June 1st, 2009
11:17 am
Uh huh…During the 80’s I sang on a great album produced by Rick James and you fools wouldnt buy it. Remember “My girl likes to party all the time”? One of the greatest songs ever written/One of the greatest songs ever sang and you jackasses left me hanging.
Well now, with obama being Pres, its PAYBACK TIME!
“My girl like to party all the time,
party all the time, party all the time”
Sing it fools!
RetLTC
June 1st, 2009
11:17 am
It’s about time. Juan Crow has to go.
The Amazing GodHatesTrash
June 1st, 2009
11:17 am
Maddox was racist trash. Of course, many Georgians still adore him.
Trash loves trash.
H.S. Coach
June 1st, 2009
11:19 am
There’s some good comedy on this board. Everyone is quick to point out each others faults and they can do no wrong.
Jay Dubbe
June 1st, 2009
11:19 am
Is it not blatantly obvious to everyone? Republicans try to thwart voter fraud, Democrats live by it. Democrats accuse Republicans of voter fraud, but never have any tangible evidence to back it up. Evidence that supports the Republican’s claim of Democrat voter fraud is in the national news…frequently.
Face it Democrats, you know you’re the real criminals.
Turd Furgeson
June 1st, 2009
11:20 am
Well normally the media doesnt report these issues of voter fraud because it is commited by minorities, case in point Cynthia McKinney, and to do so would bring out Jesse, Al, Useless LOWEY, screaming discrimination. And if FOX mentions it then the minorities just down play an discount it as discrimination.
There is your answer.
The Amazing GodHatesTrash
June 1st, 2009
11:20 am
Karen “Axe” Handel – the lovechild of Lester Maddox and Willie B., and almost as dumb as an Oxendine.
franko
June 1st, 2009
11:23 am
In the last election, dead people voted and it is documented by one of the local news organization in Atlanta. ACORN is notorious for voter fraud, which is why they wanted people to register and vote the same day. Now this fool in office want the same people to help with the census.
Democrats= devils, evil, morons, obnoxious,corrupt,repulsive,abortionist , thieves, scumbags.
States Rights
June 1st, 2009
11:30 am
Would you people, right and left, be making these statements if you used your real name and were held accountable for what you wrote????? NO….I didn’t think so.
Concerned Southerner
June 1st, 2009
11:31 am
Carpetbaggers and Scallywags are the cause of all of this!
Really?
June 1st, 2009
11:34 am
I was raised by good democrats to be a good democrat. I went on to get a higher education at my own expense. Eventually I looked around and realized that it was all a con. Democrats don’t care about anyone but themselves. Sure they will point out from there teleprompter all the good people that benefit from this plan or that plan, but nobody points out who is going to pay for it. Everybody is quick to point out how bad OLD GEORGIA was when it comes to voting rights. Let’s remember that it was ruled by those very Democrats that wanted to keep their power. Wow amazing how some things never change.
Tired
June 1st, 2009
11:37 am
All American voters should show up at the polls and be prepaired to be fingerprinted and show a valid voter ID card and a picture ID. I have nothing to hide when voting and any registered voter should not either. I am sick of dead people voting, sick of the double voting, sick of the fake names voting and I am really sick of the illegals voting.
American voters should have no problem getting finger printed to validate their citizenship and that should be nation wide. If they dont get validated in time well then thats their problem. They had plenty of time. Then the elections in this country would be fair and no recounts would be needed.
Also the military has a right to be counted. Seems like hundreds of military did not get to vote this election. I really have to wonder what that was all about?
Really?
June 1st, 2009
11:38 am
Thank you Tired. At least somebody gets it.
ray
June 1st, 2009
11:39 am
Hopefully now, more Georgians will wake up and see that secession ain’t such a silly idea afterward. If the Obamericans keep sticking their noses in our business, we’ll have no choice. At least if we governed ourselves, we’d be able to kick out all those who don’t look the right way and therefore don’t belong here, and surely keep them from electing our leaders. If we hadn’t been vigilant in the past, we couldn’t have elected such a great leader as Sonny, and such a great senator as Saxby.
TSWRA
jconservative
June 1st, 2009
11:39 am
Change the law on voting – do away with registering to vote – on election day let anyone who happens to walk into the polling place vote – then dip their right index finger in purple ink so they cannot vote again. Anyone in this country is spending money and paying taxes – let them vote.
FC Crusher
June 1st, 2009
11:40 am
franko,
You have provided nothing more than the sort of anecdotal evidence that I spoke of in my second post. What I asked for is some verifiable proof that a problem actually exists IN THIS STATE.
I would point out that in the NYT in a September 20, 2006 article 2 election officials from Georgia admitted that they had not, in their entire careers, encountered a single case of voter fraud based on a person posing as someone else at the polls. Now I realize that this does not address the illegal issue but it is an example of politicians whipping up the base to “solve” a “problem” that doesn’t exist in order to further their political aims rather than working on real solutions to real problems facing Georgians.
If this is a real problem there must be some proof of its existence that goes beyond “I read it one day in the paper” or “I saw it one day at the poll.”
So…………Try again.
Turd Furgeson
June 1st, 2009
11:41 am
Kinda funny all these Obamaniacs I would venture are the majority of those losing jobs, homes, cars etc…especially those in Detroit.
Too bad.
So sad.
*POOT*
Need more than a HS diploma, baby!
June 1st, 2009
11:43 am
Do you really expect this tart and her high school diploma to use logic and resoning to understand what the problem is? Would I expect the equally poor educated Republicans to understand either?
PMC
June 1st, 2009
11:45 am
Awesome, so we don’t give a crap if you are eligible or inteligent enough to actually make a decision…. just have a freaking pulse and you can vote. Fantastic.
A McCommon
June 1st, 2009
11:46 am
And yet the funny thing is, Hispanics tend to vote Republican.
Besides, this is not an attempt to keep Georgia from verifying. They’re just saying the way GA is doing it now is discriminatory and ineffective. So pick another way.
GA Citizen
June 1st, 2009
11:46 am
Karen isn’t the brightest bulb in the chandelier. Can’t the Republicans at least find somebody with a college degree to run for governor?
PMC
June 1st, 2009
11:47 am
How is it discriminatory to make people who somehow found a way to make it to the voting box… find a way to get a freaking FREE picture identification?
Tracie
June 1st, 2009
11:47 am
It is time for all Amerians to go to the voters booth and vote every member of the house out. They have overstayed their welcome and the committment to the American Citizens.
WE THE PEOPLE NEED TO SPEAK AS ONE. Not as what they want us to be. Government works for us, not the other way around and its high time we show them that WE THE PEOPLE
Rex
June 1st, 2009
11:48 am
What an illogical and stupid decison by the The U.S. Justice Department ! I don’t want my vote cancelled out by a who should not even be in this country ! Dems are known for (and it has been proven time & time again) registering and taking ineligible voters to the polls…This is a sound logical and quite frankly long overdue idea that should be implemented in every state. DOJ is quite simply afraid of the Liberal Media and Political Correctness ( and maybe Obama too ) Disgusting stomach-turning ruling by the DOJ !
FC Crusher
June 1st, 2009
11:51 am
There are some Americans, myself included, who are unwilling to relinquish my civil rights to appease a political party. A refusal to play along with your nonsensical games of does not mean that I have something to hide. It means that my Grandfather and Father fought, and I served, to guarantee that my children and I could live in a free society where rights were inalienable, not subject to the political whims of a political party.
As for Tired’s statement “I am sick of dead people voting, sick of the double voting, sick of the fake names voting and I am really sick of the illegals voting” I ask again, where in Georgia has this happened in say the last 20 years. I asked this question at 11:00 am and still have not seen an answer.
Does this problem exist anywhere outside the petrified minds of people like Tired?
Matilda
June 1st, 2009
11:52 am
Tired, your lack of stamina is very sad indeed. That you can be SOOOOO TIRED (**poor wittow baby!**) from something that barely exists, if at all, of which you likely have never actually seen in person, nor of which you can provide actual documentation proving this is a problem affecting anything but your own poor, sad, flagging, sagging energy level, is TRAGIC, I tell you. TRAGIC!
Sounds like you need a vacation, some vitamin supplements, a nutritionist, and a good personal trainer to get you out of your whining, weakling, always-a-victim mindset. Good luck! We’re all pulling for you!!!
d
June 1st, 2009
11:53 am
The system is indeed flawed. I worked at the polls last year and had voters bring me their birth certificates and passports and the only thing I could do was send them to the county office to get the situation cleared and then come back to the poll to actually vote, or if I could not get a hold of the county office, let them vote provisional and then they still had to go to the county office. It was a hassle to the voter and an embarrasment to me.
FC Crusher
June 1st, 2009
11:54 am
Rex,
You said “Dems are known for (and it has been proven time & time again) registering and taking ineligible voters to the polls…” Can you offer any verifiable proof at all that this has happened in Georgia?
d
June 1st, 2009
11:55 am
Also, I am very concerned about how political Ms. Handel is in the office she is in. The Secretary of State should not be a political position. It taints the neutrality of her office when she comes out in this manner. It is truly a shame.
American First
June 1st, 2009
11:55 am
How about this. The social security office is one that you cant fake out. Anyone can vote, but you must key in your social security number and your drivers license or id number while voting. If your social is not validated as a citizen, then your vote is kicked out. No recounts there either and nobody is turned away.
I mean come on, who wont fix a social security problem right? We are tracked anyway for out taxes so what makes the difference if we use the ss# as a way to validate our vote.
Northern Voice
June 1st, 2009
11:56 am
I have never seen such a racist group of ignorant southerners in my life – the crap you all think of is so far out in left field, it’s amazing any of you made it past birth!! You’ll find fault and criticism with anything pertaining to a black person just to hear your dumba.. heads roar – what a bunch of jacka..es!!
Chadrow
June 1st, 2009
11:57 am
Pure comedy…no matter the blog it will always end with the same rhetoric. The love of many waxed cold long ago. Sad.
Chadrow
June 1st, 2009
12:03 pm
Correction…false rhetoric.
Justice for all
June 1st, 2009
12:04 pm
I dont get some of you. Only American Citizens are given the right to vote. All across America this last election there was fraud, military voters not getting counted, Acorn was all over the place. Georgia is a state that has tons of illegals and they have no right to vote. People have plenty of time to validate their voter registration but they choose to wait till the last minute. I deem that their fault.
As far as the post for TIRED. I too am tired. Tired of waking up every day to do a job to support myself and my family, only having the government take half of it to support the illegals, welfare bums and anyone else that thinks the government owes them a living. This is my money and its high time I get to keep the majority of it.
By the way the government taxed my bonus at 60%. Thats more then half and for what. Oh yea, their Bailing out of GM, Chrysler, Main Street and Freddy and Fannie. Yea, real government thought behind all that. The government makes the problems then they have to fix it. Why not ban together as Americans and we will fix the real problem.
GOVERNMENT.
FC Crusher
June 1st, 2009
12:06 pm
And Justice for All:
So is your solution no more Government or a Government that is more to your liking?
No Nonsense
June 1st, 2009
12:11 pm
SAT question: Obama is to the Department of Justice, as Bush was to the Supreme Court (stress WAS). j/k
Anyway, I think, I think in this day and age all adult U.S. citizens should have some form of photo identification and ready access to get one. After all, no one in this country has much of a problem getting coffee when they want it, be it at Starbucks or the grocery store. If only government would be as zealous about the interest of its constituents as businesses are about their customers…
Ron
June 1st, 2009
12:13 pm
FC Crusher – Could it be that voter fraud in GA has not happened due to the proactive requirements that have been put into place? Other states that have less stringent requirements have had documented voter fraud take place. Do we want to open the doors to allow it to happen or do we want to prevent?
Why would we want to allow illiegal immigrants the oppurantunity to vote?
Turd Furgeson
June 1st, 2009
12:14 pm
Crusher is just a race baiter…no more no less.
Look everyone has just over 3.5 years to get their credentials in order for the next Prez election…is that too much to ask? I think not.
vuduchld
June 1st, 2009
12:17 pm
Some of the comments on here are totally laughable! To keep mentioning ACORN at this juncture tells of an electorate that is completely out of touch with reality. On election day I went to the polls with Ga drivers license in hand and had NO PROBLEMS showing that I was a citizen of this state (I live downtown!). The state has an unemployment rate of almost 10 per cent and this all this bimbo has to worry about is so-called “hordes of fraudulent” people lining up to vote!? Is this dumb chick that clueless and stupid.
And for all you other ne’er-do-wells slithering on this site, where were you when minorities were ACTUALLY being denied the right to vote. And if the Black Panthers were at some of these polling places then whose fault is that!? You idiots need to get a grip, there is MINIMAL voter fraud in the process and if there is any, look in the mirror because in all likelihood, YOU’RE the ones committing the fraud.
People voted clowns like you out on November 4 because you idiots did not do your jobs, plain and simple. If the citizens of Georgia have any sense this time around, the bimbo, Karen Handel and other idiots like her will be shown the door – END OF STORY!!
Turd Furgeson
June 1st, 2009
12:22 pm
I was in kindergarten when minorities were denied the right to vote. Where were you Ms Diva/duduchld.
Mark
June 1st, 2009
12:23 pm
While voting, like speech and gun ownership, is a freedom and right of the American people, it does not come without restrictions.
You cannot shout “FIRE” in a crowded theater. You cannot spew slander or libel. You cannot just go to a store and purchase any firearm without background checks. You cannot own certain weapons. The list can go on and on.
In that same breath, voting is not an unrestricted action. All citizens that are legally eligible to vote should be allowed. They should, however, be able and willing to prove their eligibility.
Eddie Murphy
June 1st, 2009
12:25 pm
“My Girl likes to Party all the time
Party all the time
Party all the time
My Girl likes to party all the time
Paarrtty aaalll the tiiime.”
Sing it Fools or ya gonna get 4 more years of Obama.