Posted: June 28, 2010
Georgia Challenges Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act
The State of Georgia has filed this complaint against AG Eric Holder. The complaint seeks judicial preclearance of its voter verification process under Section 5 and, in the alternative, asserts that Section 5 is unconstitutional. DOJ had denied preclearance of the verification process last year and declined to withdraw its objection earlier this year. The case is worth watching not only because of the constitutional claim, but also because of the relative dearth of precedent on how Section 5 should be applied to election administration practices like this one. According to this story, Georgia's Attorney General Thurbert Baker refused to file suit, leading Governor Sunny Perdue to appoint a special attorney general to file on the state's behalf. [See EL@M case page for additional information]
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Commentary
Silence of the Lambs
Dale A. Oesterle
With the election of 2012 now well over and past the second inauguration of the incumbent President, the historical analysis of the events has begun and will last as long as written human history lasts. An interesting tidbit may already be lost to the majesty of the moment.
The voters of three very different states, Alaska, New Hampshire, and Ohio, all had an opportunity to call state constitutional conventions. In each state the voters turned the opportunity down by very similar votes, 68%, 64% and 68% respectively against.
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