[Lamplighter]

The Obama Dept of Justice is doing something right...

Washington Post
Jerry Markon
12/23/11

Justice Dept. rejects South Carolina voter ID law, calling it discriminatory

The Justice Department on Friday entered the divisive national debate over new state voting laws,
rejecting South Carolina’s measure requiring photo-identification at the polls as discriminatory against minority voters.<snip>

In its first decision on one of those new measures, the Justice Department said Friday
that South Carolina’s law will discriminate against minority voters,
though the department declined to take a position on whether the alleged discrimination was intentional.
The law, passed in May and signed by Gov. Nikki Haley (R),
requires voters to show a driver’s license or one of several other forms of photo identification. <snip>

The federal action signals an escalating legal battle nationwide over
the new laws as the presidential campaign intensifies.
The American Civil Liberties Union and another group recently filed a federal lawsuit in Milwaukee,
contending that Wisconsin’s voter-identification measure is unconstitutional.
It was signed into law in May. <snip>

In addition to South Carolina, Wisconsin and Mississippi, more stringent voter-identification laws
have been passed this year in Texas, Alabama, Kansas, Rhode Island, and Tennessee.
Justice civil rights officials are currently examining the Texas law,
along with electoral changes made by Florida that reduce the number of days for early voting.