The state of Mississippi must have a party registration system and voter identification law in place for the 2008 elections, a federal judge has ruled.
U.S. District Judge W. Allen Pepper said political parties have a right to stop non-party members from voting in their primary elections. He said party registration and voter ID would do that.
Pepper ruled late Friday in a lawsuit filed in 2006 by plaintiffs wanting to stop non-Democrats from voting in Democratic primary elections. The Mississippi Republican Party was not involved in the lawsuit, but Pepper said his decision applies to all party primaries in the state.
I am not a registered Dem, but I vote almost exclusively in the Dem primaries. How? I am a registered Independent, and in my state I am allowed to choose which primary I vote in, along with all other Independents, on the one primary day that all of the Republicans and Democrats vote. We all show up on the same day, we sign in, and we are given one ballot. We can't vote in both primaries, and there is no confusion, since we all sign in to the same book system that we use for general elections.
Why do the MS Dems want to enact another BS voter id law in the South. Are they insane?
Mississippi voters do not now register by party.
The courts have ruled that people can’t vote in a Democratic primary and then turn around and vote in Republican runoff, or vice versa.
"Mississippi’s interests in preserving its present primary system is substantially outweighed by the Mississippi Democratic Party’s First Amendment right of association and its corollary right to disassociate," Pepper said.
Pepper denied a motion by Hood to dismiss the lawsuit.
Pepper said the Legislature has until April 1, 2008, to pass laws implementing his order.
They must have been having large instances of voter fraud in the primaries, right?
Well, maybe not.
"Though the current primary system in Mississippi may have worked well through the many years Mississippi was effectively a one-party state, it is now unconstitutionally antiquated with the advent of a two-party system in Mississippi," Pepper wrote.
Voter ID has been a controversial issue in Mississippi. Several voter ID bills have died in the Mississippi Legislature over the past dozen years, and the issue already is being raised by several GOP candidates for statewide office this year.
Supporters of the issue say requiring ID would ensure that people don’t vote multiple times or cast ballots under others’ names.
Opponents say there’s no proof that people have been masquerading as others at the polls. They also say that requiring ID could intimidate older black Mississippians, who for decades faced poll taxes and other Jim Crow laws that kept them from voting.
Pepper said carrying a photo ID should not be a burden to Mississippi voters. He said photo identification is required to drive, open a bank account, cash a check, get a job or apply for Social Security.
"Without the requirement of a photo ID, there would be room for dishonesty which would call into question the security of the election process," he said.
Pepper said he will not order voter ID for general elections.
"That is for the Mississippi Legislature to decide," he said.
The plaintiffs had argued in their lawsuit that Mississippi law compels the Democratic Party "to permit nonmembers to vote in its primaries, allows party raiding and causes the dilution of Democratic voting strength in primary elections."
They said the law thwarts the party’s effort to select candidates for the general election ballot who best represent the party’s interests.
This is why the two-party system stinks.