Mississippi's photo identification law will not be in effect for the upcoming presidential election. In the mean time, federal officials from the Department of Justice will review for it for discrimination.
Unlike Pennsylvania, where legislators passed the ID measure, Mississippi voters approved the identification requirement on a ballot initiative by a wide margin in November of 2011.
"We believe the process of implementation authorized by the Mississippi Legislature and the rules and regulations will show no discrimination against any citizen of Mississippi," said Mississippi Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann.
The Department of Justice is investigating to determine if the new law violates the Voting Rights Act.
Read more here.
The bottom line is that poll workers can ask voters for ID but cannot deny their right to vote in November. The requirement will be postponed until after the election.
Read more here, here, here, and here.
Earlier this week, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court remanded the controversial voter identification law. The high court instructed Commonwealth Court Judge Robert Simpson to determine whether voters will be able to easily obtain state-issued ID cards, which the law requires for them to be able to vote in the upcoming election. If not, the Supreme Court instructed the lower court to block the law's implementation with a preliminary injunction.
According to the American Civil Liberties Union, about 14% of voters in Pennsylvania lack the proper identification in order to exercise their constitutional right to vote in November. That's about 1 million people who could be potentially disenfranchised in the key swing state.
Opponents of the law say that this is an all-too transparent attempt by the Republican party to disenfranchise minorities, poor, and elderly voters, all of whom tend to vote Democratic. Currently, the law requires every voter to present a state-issued driver's license, state non-driver ID card or government employee ID.
Let's see what happens.
