After battle, Senate OKs online voter registration

By Ernie Suggs

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

State government’s classic wedge issue -- voter access -- reached the Senate floor Wednesday as members voted to allow online voter registration.

But it proved to be the most vicious floor battle of the session as two amendments to the bill were defeated, as well as a motion to table the bill altogether.

When it was over, the Republican-backed SB 406 was approved by the Senate 33-20 -- mostly along party lines.

However, Republican Preston Smith from Rome voted against the bill, and Democrat George Hooks of Americus voted for the bill.

Under the bill, if it now passes the House, Georgians with a valid driver's license would be able to log into the secretary of state’s Web site and submit a voter registration application.

Sen. Cecil Staton (R-Macon), the key sponsor of the bill, said the online registration would be in addition to people being able to apply through the paper process that is currently in place.

“This is a bill that is forward-thinking,” Staton said, adding that the bill is also “green,” because it would reduce the use of paper.

Critics of the bill say that while the concept of online registration is fine, Staton’s bill still hurts minorities and people of color. Sen. Vincent Fort (D-Atlanta) said the bill is merely a recasting of past legislation that has already been struck down by the U.S. Department of Justice under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

In 2009, the Justice Department objected to the state’s voter verification program in Morales v. Handel. In its judgment, the DOJ concluded that the state’s process "does not produce accurate and reliable information and that thousands of citizens who are in fact eligible to vote under Georgia law have been flagged."

“We have plowed this ground before. SB 406 will have the impact of diluting the voting strength of people of color,” Fort said. “Online access is good in theory, but it is only as good as the verification process. This is a solution in search of a problem. The discrimination impact has been proven beyond any doubt.”

Democratic Sens. Emanuel Jones of Decatur and Gail Buckner of Jonesboro offered amendments to the bill, but they were struck down 20-32 and 16-33, respectively. Both of those votes came after Buckner’s failed attempt to get the bill tabled.

“Since the Bush administration debate, we’ve been keenly aware that the information from the [Department of Driver Services] is flawed,” said Buckner, who is running for secretary of state. “People legally registered to vote have been impacted by this. We shouldn’t knowingly cast Georgia back into a legal situation that will cost the state more money to defend a flawed system.”

The bill now goes to the House, where Fort predicts it will pass the GOP-dominated chamber. But he predicted that the Justice Department would again strike down the bill under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, which requires the department, through an administrative procedure, to approve any attempt to change any “voting qualification or prerequisite to voting, or standard, practice, or procedure.”

“We are spending time passing a law that has been rejected before in another form,” Fort said. “The chances of this being rejected by the DOJ are very high. This is just another in a long line of attempts to limit people of color from voting.”