Federal lawsuit claims ”Exact Match” process violates Voting Rights Act
From WXIA tv news (article also contains extensive links and information to get you registered to vote. Make sure you are registered and ready to vote!)
Excerpts:
ATLANTA (AP) - A federal lawsuit claims Georgia's voter registration process violates the Voting Rights Act and has prevented tens of thousands of people from being able to register to vote - many of them minorities.
The lawsuit filed Wednesday in Gainesville says a state policy causes voter registration applications to be rejected if the submitted information doesn't exactly match that in databases maintained by the Georgia Department of Driver Services or the Social Security Administration.
The lawsuit says that for multiple reasons the records may not match, including data entry errors, typos or elections officials misreading applicants' handwriting. Hyphenated and maiden names or initials can also cause problems.
http://www.11alive.com/news/politics/elections/federal-lawsuit-ga-voter-registration-process-violates-voting-rights-act/318791965
Excerpts from another article at NBC national news:
The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in federal court, charges that the "exact match" system used by Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp violates the Voting Rights Act's ban on racial discrimination in voting. It asks that the state be required to stop using the system immediately, while there's still time for affected applicants to be added to the rolls.
"Georgia, like many states across the country, has erected another burdensome and unnecessary obstacle for those seeking to register and vote," said Kristen Clarke, president and executive director of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, one of the lead groups behind the suit. "The Secretary of State's exact-match program penalizes those seeking to register and vote because of errors contained in databases maintained by the state."
http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/lawsuit-exact-match-system-negatively-impacts-georgia-s-minority-voters-n648251
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