At a ceremony with the Governor yesterday, Karen
thanked Governor Perdue for signing a law she championed
to require that Georgians provide proof of United States
citizenship when registering to vote.
“I am proud of this legislation and believe it is common
sense to ensure that voters in our elections are
actually citizens of the United States,” Karen said.
The legislation requires those registering to vote after
January 1, 2010 to submit proof of U.S. citizenship with
their application.
Georgia will be only the second state in the nation to
require applicants to provide proof of citizenship when
they register to vote.
Karen announced last week the enactment of Project
VoteSafe, a program to ensure that people (usually
women) who are being protected in family violence
centers do not have their addresses exposed to abusive
partners simply because they want to exercise their
right to vote. Governor Sonny Perdue signed the
legislation into law Friday.
Project VoteSafe, initiated by Karen's office and
sponsored by Rep. Katie Dempsey (R-Rome), applies to
citizens who have received a protective order issued by
a court and to residents of family violence shelters.
These individuals would be eligible to confidentially
register to vote without their voter registration
information becoming available as public information.
“Georgians should not have to endanger themselves
because they wish to exercise their right to vote,”
Karen said. “Keeping our citizens safe and protecting
their rights are among the most basic responsibilities
of government and I am pleased that both of these goals
are accomplished by this legislation.”
When first elected, Karen pledged to root out and
eliminate voter fraud and punish those responsible for
it. As part of honoring that pledge, an investigation by
the Secretary of State’s office and other agencies led
to the resignation of former Chattooga County Judge
Carlton Vines on Friday. Vines was indicted September 5,
2008 on felony charges of illegal possession of absentee
ballots, conspiracy to commit election fraud, and false
swearing.
“Voter fraud is an assault on our Democracy and
undermines the public’s trust in their government,”
Karen said. “Carlton Vines’ resignation is a victory for
Georgia’s election laws and Chattooga County voters.”
A challenge currently before the U.S. Supreme Court
should lead to a decision on whether or not all changes
to the election laws in several Southern states will
continue to require the blessing of federal bureaucrats.
The law – an antiquated vestige of the reconstruction
era is, as Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel puts
it, “pure politics in its worst form and a ridiculous
solution in search of a problem that left the South
decades ago.”
Her statement on the topic follows:
The continuation of the Voting Rights Act has
nothing to do with ensuring fairness in elections.
It is pure politics in its worst form and a
ridiculous solution in search of a problem that left
the South decades ago. If the goal of this
antiquated act were to truly ensure fair elections,
it would immediately be imposed upon the state of
Minnesota where missing ballots were found in a car
trunk last year. It is unconscionable that Georgia
should be treated as a poorer and less capable
cousin to Minnesota. It is, in a word, unfair.
While the creators of the VRA were noble in their
intentions, the continuation of its control exists
for the sole reason of Washington bureaucrats
control over the people of Georgia and other states
– especially those that tend to vote for Republican
candidates.
This is not about fairness or competency. Georgia
has proven that time and again with its election
fairness. Rather it is to gain a political advantage
through what Democrats call the “administrative
firewall” of elections. The disparity between
Georgia and Ohio illustrates this perfectly. Because
Ohio is not covered by the VRA, its Secretary of
State was able to unilaterally move to same-day
registration to vote when such a move promised to be
politically advantageous for Democrats. Georgia
would have had to await pre-clearance, as we
currently are doing on our recently-passed law to
require proof of citizenship to vote.
We are being discriminated against by the federal
government and for no just reason. We have prevailed
in virtually every challenge to our election laws
under the voting rights act. VRA’s continuation has
served primarily as an embarrassment and secondarily
as a way to delay the implementation of common-sense
measures that have put Georgia on the cutting edge
of election fairness, security and voting
technology. We are the envy of the nation with our
electronic voting machines, early voting and
no-excuse absentee balloting.
We have the best, cleanest, fairest election system
in the country. Record numbers of voters of all
racial background cast ballots in the 2008
presidential primaries and in the general election.
The percentage of our voting eligible population
that is registered to vote stands at a record high,
and racial minorities hold elected office at every
level of government, in both the Democratic and
Republican Parties. If fairness and common-sense
prevail, the U.S. Supreme Court will strike down
Section 5 of the VRA and remove partisan, big
government control from elections in the state of
Georgia.
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