S.C. Voter ID law doesn't pass federal muster (Update: To court & new legislation)

South Carolina is one of six Republican lead states that passed a photo identification requirement for all voters. The law, supporters say, will help reduce voter fraud, which has not yet been shown to be a major problem in this state.

Detractors of the law say thousands will be disenfranchised for numerous reasons; the main reason cited being the huge number of elderly in South Carolina who do not have a state ID and or a birth certificate to get one due to lax record keeping practices that lasted until just 50 years ago. 

The lawsuit is expected to cost South Carolina tax payers one million dollars or more. Read more on the lawsuit by heading over to The Chicago Tribune. 

A potential wild card in South Carolina's lawsuit was that the Department of Justice rejected our state's law as the bill that created it required the issuing of free photo-equipped voter registration cards, something the department supported but wrote that South Carolina had yet to implement to reduce the chances of disenfranchisement.

You can check out South Carolina's full complaint in this PDF.

Meanwhile, a new bill has been proposed by Representative Alan Clemmons (R, Dist. 107 Horry County) is another that tightens voter laws by placing stiffer penalties on third party "get out and vote" groups. Civil rights groups are already protesting the new voter registration requirements. Targeting these groups raises questions due to the fact that they mostly register young voters who mostly vote Democratic and or poor and minorities who also tend to do the same. 

Read the full AP write-up over at WMBF News.com

For the whole back-story on the SC Voter ID law read below and here, here, here, and here. 

Update 1/11/12: As expected, advocates of the downed law won't appeal to the Department of Justice, but instead plan to take the matter to court.

In a press conference, Governor Nikki Haley, Attorney General Alan Wilson, House Speaker Bobby Harrell, and State Sen. Kevin Bryant made their positions that the state would not unduly disenfranchise minority voters through its implementation of the law.

Check out the video of the conference up top. The Mount Pleasant Patch also offers up a full report. 

Look for more news on this in the coming days and weeks. 

Update 12/27/11: One of the Representatives responsible for the S.C. voter ID law, Myrtle Beach's Alan Clemmons spoke with WMBF News about the now blocked law.

WMBF also spoke with Mickey James who represents the Myrtle Beach NAACP, the opposing side of the argument. Hop on over to WMBF News for the full story.

Below is the letter that the Department of Justice sent to the state blocking the law:
Justice Department Letter To South Carolina Blocking Voter ID Law

First Report: Remember how there was much concern about the 178,000 S.C. voters lacking photo identification to vote under the state's passed (but not yet in effect) voter ID law?

Well, that law needed approval by the federal government — and on Friday it was denied.

The S.C. State Election Commission wrote,  "The U.S. Department of Justice today blocked implementation of a new law that would require South Carolina voters to present a photo ID in order to vote. Therefore, ID requirements for voting will not change at this time."

The Department of Justice was concerned that the percentage of those lacking photo identification was lopsidedly non-white and would unfairly disenfranchise minorities, writing: "Minority registered voters were nearly 20% more likely to lack DMV-issued ID than white registered voters, and thus to be effectively disenfranchised by Act R54's new requirements

"Put differently, although non-white voters comprised 30.4% of the state's registered voters, they constituted 34.2% of registered voters who did not have the requisite DMV-issued identification to vote."

The department instead encouraged the state to pursue free photo-equipped voter registration cards — something that was written into the bill but that the state has yet to finalize procedures for.

However, the state does not plan to ask the Department of Justice again for permission, instead S.C. Attorney General Alan Wilson has already expressed his desire to take the department to court.

South Carolina is covered by Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Therefore, any change to election law must be approved by the U.S. Department of Justice before it can be implemented or enforced. 

Current law requires voters to present one of three items to vote at the polling place: driver's license, a S.C. ID card issued by the Department of Motor Vehicles, or a voter registration card.

We'll be sure to keep you posted and you can keep up with the voter ID law saga on our topic page.