After Wisconsin Voter ID Ruling, What’s Next For Georgia?
Could a recent ruling on the constitutionality of voter ID requirements affect Georgia’s law?
That’s the question after a federal judge in Wisconsin earlier this week struck down a law requiring voters to show a state photo ID at polls, a policy in place in about half the U.S. states, including Georgia.
In his ruling Tuesday, U.S. District Court Judge Lynn Adelman said Wisconsin’s voter ID law violates the U.S. Constitution and the Voting Rights Act, adding the law disproportionately affects minority and low-income individuals.As heard on the radio
Laughlin McDonald, director emeritus of the American Civil Liberties Union Voting Rights Project, said the future implications of the Wisconsin ruling are unclear, but called it “significant.”
“It may be that the decision will end up in the U.S. Supreme Court,” McDonald said. “And if it’s affirmed, then it could very well trigger another challenge to Georgia’s photo ID law.”
In 2008, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Indiana’s voter ID law. That helped pave the way three years later for the Georgia Supreme Court to uphold the state law.
WABE Legal Analyst Page Pate said the Wisconsin ruling sets up a precedent to challenge such laws.
“You have to show, number one, there’s no evidence of voter fraud, and therefore no particular reason for this law, and number two, you have to show that it has a negative impact on voter turnout, especially in minority and disenfranchised communities,” Pate said.
Opinions for and against the laws fall mostly along party lines. Democrats argue they disenfranchise minority and low-income voters, while Republicans say they protect against voter fraud.
Pate said the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2008 ruling doesn’t necessarily green light all ID laws, but rather a standard each state has to meet.
“What they have done is set up a balancing test, and judges are supposed to apply that balancing test to each individual voter ID law,” Pate said.
A spokesperson for Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens said the Wisconsin ruling doesn’t affect the state’s ID requirement – citing the State Supreme Court decision. The office declined an interview, saying Olens wouldn’t speculate on hypothetical scenarios. Calls to Secretary of State Brian Kemp were not returned.
McDonald points to more recent state court rulings in Pennsylvania and Arkansas as evidence that legal standing to overturn ID laws could be mounting.
“This suggests that the courts are now beginning fully to understand that these laws do have an adverse impact on many potential voters,” McDonald said.
The Arkansas Supreme Court has stayed the lower court’s ruling – and has asked for arguments by week’s end.
As for the Wisconsin ruling, Gov. Scott Walker said his office will appeal the decision.
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