Over the holiday, the Department of Justice came to a decision on whether to approve South Carolina‘s photo voter ID requirement before the 2012 presidential election.
Due to its history of voter suppression, South Carolina must seek federal approval before implementing new election laws, including the 2011 voter ID law, Act 27. The Justice Department had already requested more data to “determine if the new law will disenfranchise minority voters” in August, extending their deadline another 60 days to decide whether the law should be implemented.
On December 23, the Justice Department rejected the law as discriminatory because South Carolina’s “registered minority voters are nearly 20 percent more likely than whites to lack state-issued photo ID.”
“The absolute number of minority citizens whose exercise of the franchise could be adversely affected by the proposed requirements runs into the tens of thousands,” wrote Assistant Attorney General Thomas E. Perez in a letter to South Carolina officials.