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Sunday, April 16, 2006
Roy Barnes jumps into the race for governor
If not as a candidate, then as a fly in the Republican ointment
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Not enough has been made of the entry of Roy Barnes of Mableton into the 2006 race for governor.
Not as a candidate, mind you. But as someone out to upset an apple cart belonging to a certain Sonny Perdue.
Last week, the former Democratic governor filed a lawsuit in DeKalb County Superior Court - note the venue - challenging the 2006 version of the voter photo ID law passed by a Republican-controlled Legislature earlier this year.
The 2005 version has already been challenged in federal court. The lawsuit at that level argues the statute is discriminatory and violates the Voting Rights Act. In early rounds, a judge has given the lawsuit an encouraging reception.
The Barnes action, formally filed on behalf of a Lithonia woman, attacks the cleaned-up, 2006 version of the voter ID act. But it does so from a state rather than federal point of view.
It’s designed to bring the voter ID issue before the Georgia Supreme Court for a final and quick decision. Remember that Georgia’s anti-sodomy law survived federal court challenges for several years. It was actually killed by Georgia’s highest state court.
The keystone of the Barnes lawsuit can be found in Article II, Section I, Paragraph II of the state Constitution. Anyone 18 and older, who meets residency requirements and hasn’t engaged in moral turpitude “shall be entitled to vote at any election by the people.”
In legal circles, “shall” is a very important word. It is a mandate, not a recommendation. The phrasing dates back to the era World War II, when photo IDs were a rare and costly thing.
It’s considered untoward for a former governor to criticize a sitting one. But Barnes comes close: “It’s not essential for members of the General Assembly or other high elected officials in the state to read the constitution of Georgia, but it is helpful from time to time.”
Perhaps this is the place to note that this lawsuit filed by a former governor, on a pro bono basis, is directed at a host of state officials, topmost among them Gov. Sonny Perdue, the man who ousted Barnes. It is a technicality. Perdue will never have to show up in a courtroom. But there can be symbolism in technicalities.
Barnes has already shaped his argument. Not only does the voter ID law add requirements not sanctioned by the state constitution, it is designed to give Republicans an edge in all future elections.
“I believe in partisan politics as much as anybody on the face of the earth. It’s the American way. However, what I don’t like is hypocrisy,” the former governor said.
Several authorities have identified absentee ballots as the most likely source of voter fraud in Georgia. “But we won’t do anything about absentee ballots because Republicans vote absentee,” Barnes said.
The Democratic contention is that by requiring a photo ID to be presented at polling places, the law discriminates against the people most likely to lack a driver’s license - the poor and the elderly.
“It’s really an income issue rather than a racial one,” Barnes said. “The talk down there amongst them is that this will cut 6 percent off Democrats.”
Barnes estimates his lawsuit could get a hearing by June. Just as the state is entering the summer political season.
Republicans don’t altogether mind that the voter ID issue percolates. It polls well among middle-class voters who spend their lives on Georgia’s highways, to whom a drivers license might as well be a microchip under the skin. And if a judge criticizes the law, well, that’s just more evidence of judicial activism.
But the Democratic advantages of this lawsuit are also clear. Four years ago, Barnes couldn’t match Perdue in the court of public opinion. Yet in a formal courtroom - a highly controlled environment where fund-raising advantages are irrelevant - the former governor is a master.
He’ll have a forum in which to rally African-Americans and older voters. He’ll be able to wax eloquent about what he sees as a Republican lack of respect for the rule of law. Barnes will be a favorite image for TV cameras, perhaps just as Perdue kicks off his campaign, reminding voters what they gave up in 2002.
The question is whether that’s enough to create a sense of buyer’s remorse.
