An Aug. 22 hearing — in U.S. District Court in Rome — has been set to determine if the state’s voter ID law can be implemented.
Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel said last week the state hopes to implement the law in time for the Sept. 18 special elections. Opponents of the law have asked the court to block it.
Judge Harold L. Murphy scheduled a “trial on the merits” in his Rome courtroom.
Click here to view the court order setting a trial.
While the trial will may end one chapter, both sides have said it is unlikely the case will end without turning to the U.S. Court of Appeals, regardless of who wins.
After issuing several preliminary injunctions against the law, Murphy put the federal proceedings on hold in August 2006 pending resolution of a case filed in Fulton County.
The Fulton Superior Court judge issued a permanent injunction, saying the law violates the state Constitution by setting up roadblocks for certain voters. The Georgia Supreme Court vacated the order because the law wouldn’t have affected the named plaintiff.
Recently, the high court denied a motion to reconsider its June 11 ruling — clearing the way for the state to put the law into effect.
“I am ready to have this permanently enjoined so the Court of Appeals can get ready to hear it,” said Emmet Bondurant, of Atlanta-based Bondurant, Mixson & Elmore, who represents plaintiff Common Cause.
The trial should take just a few days, lawyers have said. Both parties have told the court they will require less than a day to present their evidence.
The case has been in litigation since 2005, and much of the evidence already submitted remains in evidence and need not be presented again.
At the trial, attorneys for the state say they will present evidence regarding their ongoing education of voters making them aware that they may need to have a valid ID to vote.
Chattooga and Whitfield counties are among the jurisdictions holding September votes on special purpose, local option sales tax proposals.
Municipal elections are scheduled across the state Nov. 6.
