The Georgia Voter ID trial will enter its third day in federal court in Rome today with the focus still on educational material for voters.
A literacy expert testified Thursday that educational information sent out by the Secretary of State’s Office would be difficult to read for more than half of Georgia’s population.
A lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court is seeking to block the 2006 Voter ID law that would require voters to show certain photographic identification at the polls.
Click here to read a previous story about the state hoping to use the Voter ID law for Sept. 18 elections.
Judge Harold L. Murphy is hearing the case.
Dr. Sheryl Gowan, chair of Educational Policy at Georgia Southern University, stated that the absentee ballot application, voter requirements pamphlet and an educational letter about Voter IDs were on a 12th-grade reading level.
“I would estimate 53 to 56 percent of Georgians would find these documents difficult to read,” Gowan testified.
After the plaintiffs spent time attacking the education efforts of the state, Deputy Secretary of State Robert Simms led the court through a detailed explanation of his department’s efforts Thursday.
The former GOP lobbyist gave a point-by-point account of his strategy, from massive mailing lists to designs for “vote with voter ID” buttons that have never been made.
Plaintiffs focused on what they saw as errors in these efforts.
Simms, to the amusement of many in the courtroom, was asked to place a call to his own voter ID hotline by attorney Ed Hine.
First Simms asked what forms of ID are needed to vote in person, which the woman answering the phone apparently answered correctly.
The call was ended prematurely after she asked Simms if he had a valid photo ID. Since he placed the call under oath, he said he did not want to make a false statement.
“I think Mr. Hine has made his point to the court,” Murphy interjected.
“She asked me if I was in the court case,” Simms revealed after hanging up the cell phone.
In other action Thursday, Murphy dismissed six major plaintiffs after they rested their case.
The defense made a motion to dismiss the case and the original plaintiffs, asserting that the plaintiffs could not prove they would be harmed by the law.
Murphy apparently agreed in part, dismissing Common Cause of Georgia, The League of Women Voters, Concerned Black Clergy of Atlanta, Central Presbyterian Outreach and Advocacy Center in Atlanta, Georgia Associated of Black Elected Officials and the Georgia Legislative Black Caucus.
Murphy, however, refused to dismiss the suit as a whole, and Edward Dubose, state president of the NAACP, told the court he knows of at least five members affected.
Testimony is expected to end today, but neither side would comment about when a final decision is expected from Murphy. The state hopes to implement the law in time for special elections Sept. 18.
Click here for more on Georgia's photo ID requirements.
