By Staff, World News Magazine
(WNS) – A federal appeals court panel decided Oct. 10 to uphold but delay enforcement of a South Carolina law requiring people to produce a government-issued photo ID before casting a vote.
The three-judge panel agreed unanimously that given the short amount of time before Election Day, the voter ID law may have “discriminatory effects” if implemented this year. The law will take effect in 2013.
Hans von Spakovsky, a senior legal fellow at The Heritage Foundation, told CitizenLink that people have plenty of time to get a photo ID.
“It prevents people from impersonation fraud, from voting under false or fraudulent registrations,” he said. “It prevents illegal aliens from voting if they have to produce a government issued photo ID. It can potentially prevent double voting by people registered in more than one state.”
“The fact remains, voter ID laws do not discriminate or disenfranchise; they ensure integrity at the ballot box,” South Carolina Alan Attorney General Wilson said. “This ruling also affirms South Carolina’s voter ID law should have been pre-cleared by the U.S. Justice Department.”
Alabama, Kansas, Mississippi, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin all passed new voter ID laws in their 2011 or 2012 legislative sessions, according to the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University’s School of Law.