• Originally published in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution March 16, 2005 Copyright 2005 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

By NANCY BADERTSCHER, CARLOS CAMPOS

A top official of the American Civil Liberties Union said Tuesday he expects voting rights groups to file suit if the General Assembly passes legislation requiring voters to show photo identification at the polls.

"There's utterly no justification for it, and I think there's a good argument to be made that it violates federal law," said Laughlin McDonald, director of the ACLU's Voting Rights Project.

Chris Riggall, spokesman for Democratic Secretary of State Cathy Cox, said Tuesday that passage of the legislation could give Georgia "the most restrictive voter ID law in the nation."

Seven states currently require photo IDs, but Georgia would be the first state not to allow a fallback plan, such as an affidavit or provisional ballot, Riggall said.

"And it begs the question, what problem are we solving?" Riggall said. "Out of the hundreds of election fraud matters before the Election Board in the last nine years, we can't recall a single one that involved a person falsely identifying themselves as another registered voter."

Last Friday, the Republican-led House and Senate gave preliminary approval to separate measures --- House Bill 244 and Senate Bill 84 --- requiring photo IDs that GOP leaders said would cut down on voter fraud. But the bills sparked a walkout of Democrats from the House and Senate. They argued the requirement effectively would deny the right to vote to some minority, poor and elderly voters and would be a throwback to the days of the poll tax.

Current Georgia law allows voters to use any one of 17 forms of identification, including a valid driver's license, military ID, utility bill or a bank statement. The new bills would require a driver's license, military ID, student picture ID, U.S. passport, state-issued ID or government employee ID.

Riggall said Cox worked closely with the U.S. Justice Department to help draft the state's current law, which allows voters who have no identification to receive a provisional ballot after they sign a sworn statement on their identity.

The bills, both of which are still pending before the Legislature, continued Tuesday to spark some of the most bitter rhetoric of the legislative session.

In the Senate, the highest-ranking Republican, President Pro Tem Eric Johnson of Savannah, chastised Democrats for their Friday night walkout.

"Nobody is claiming that senators don't have the right to speak for their constituents," Johnson said. "But when the language turns to calling people racists, returning to the white hoods of KKK, wearing shackles on the floor of the Senate, we crossed the line, we violated the decorum of this chamber and . . . disrespected every citizen of this state."

In the House, where some lawmakers could face sanctions for their protests last week, Rep. David Lucas (D-Macon) criticized Speaker Glenn Richardson (R-Hiram) for disseminating a letter on the potential punishments for misconduct. "I took the letter to mean if I don't do what y'all say, you'll silence me," Lucas told the House.

Doug Lewis, director of the nonprofit Elections Center in Houston, said the debate over photo IDs has "been around a long, long time."

"Whenever it has come up, it's bitter," he said.