Reviving Jim Crow? only 56 places in which residents can obtain a driver's license ... not one in Atlanta or 6 counties with majority of blacks

Reviving Jim Crow?: "By David J. Becker | Monday, August 22, 2005; Page A17

Any day now the Justice Department will render judgment on one of the single most discriminatory pieces of voting legislation of recent years: a Georgia state law requiring voters to present one of only six forms of photo identification before they can exercise their right to vote. Before enforcing this statute, Georgia must get Justice Department approval by proving that the law will not put minority voters in a worse position than they were in before the requirement was instituted."

The facts surrounding Georgia's voter identification requirement cannot be disputed. Virtually every black legislator opposes the legislation, and most black lawmakers staged a walkout to protest its passage. Every major civil rights and minority advocacy group, including the NAACP, and many legal scholars, oppose the restriction; several have submitted comments to the Justice Department for consideration.

Additionally, it is surprisingly difficult to obtain a photo ID in Georgia. Though the state has 159 counties, there are only 56 places in which residents can obtain a driver's license, and not one is within the city limits of Atlanta or within the six counties that have the highest percentage of blacks.
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Furthermore, while purporting to combat fraud, the Georgia law expressly excludes absentee ballots from the ID requirement. While all the evidence indicates that minorities are far less likely to vote absentee than whites, absentee balloting is the only form of voting in which there is documented fraud in Georgia. The exclusion of absentee ballots from the identification requirement raises serious questions about whether the anti-fraud justification for the law is purely pretextual.

One thing is certain: If this law is approved, it will be more difficult for minorities to vote in Georgia -- the home of John Lewis and Martin Luther King Jr. -- than in any other state.
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Any guesses? ... Any pattern?
Governor: Sonny Perdue (R)
Georgia Speaker of the House Glenn Richardson (R-Hiram)
Eric Johnson, Senate President Pro Tempore
Tommie Williams, Senate Majority Leader (R)
Robert Brown, Senate Democratic Leader (D)
Jerry Keen - House Majority Leader (R)
DuBose Porter - Minority Leader (D)