<p>A federal judge on Thursday blocked the state from enforcing voting rules that prevent private groups from photocopying registration forms they collect during voter drives and require that those forms be sealed when the voter hands them over.</p><p>U.S. District Judge Jack T. Camp wrote in his ruling that a group of voter and civil rights groups has a reasonable chance to prove that the rules infringe on their First Amendment right to free speech.</p><p>"As the Supreme Court has explained, the loss of First Amendment freedoms, even for a short period of time, constitute an irreparable injury," he wrote in the 19-page injunction.</p><p>The injunction is expected to prevent the state from enforcing the rules at least through the Nov. 7 general election. State lawyers may still appeal the ruling and ask that an appeals court speed up their decision.</p><p>The plaintiffs argued that the rules would keep them from holding registration drives in Georgia because they could not double-check the work of their employees.</p><p>The groups include the Georgia NAACP, Little Rock, Ark.-based Project Vote, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) and the Georgia Coalition for the People's Agenda.</p><p>"We're very happy," said Brian Mellor, regional coordinator with Project Vote. "We're happy that he recognized the importance of ACORN and Project Vote's quality control systems and management procedures.</p><p>"We believe that an important part of getting eligible voters on the roles is having a good system in place."</p><p>By requiring that voters seal their forms before giving them to registration groups, the plaintiffs said the rules prevent them from looking to make sure the forms were filled out properly or checking back with the state to ensure the forms they turned in had been processed.</p><p>The ban on photocopying makes it harder for them to follow up with voters to remind them of election dates and offer them rides to the polls and other services, they argued.</p><p>"We feel it's a very significant victory because it was based on the First Amendment," said Elizabeth Westfall, a lawyer with the Advancement Project, the Washington, D.C. voting rights group that filed the suit. "This is a federal court in yet another state striking down different types of restrictions that have a similar effect _ to hamper or severely slow down voter registration."</p><p>She said judges have sided with the group in similar cases in Florida and Ohio.</p><p>The Georgia regulations went into effect earlier this year. The lawsuit challenging them was filed in August.</p><p>The state attorney general's office, which argued to defend the rules, did not immediately return a phone call Thursday.</p><p>State voting officials say the rules were put in place to protect voters from fraud and identity theft.</p><p>"It's trying to strike a balance between, on the one hand, having full and open participation in voter registration for groups and individuals and, at the same time, counterbalancing that with taking care of secure, private information _ most notably Social Security numbers and date of birth," said Chris Riggall, spokesman for Secretary of State Cathy Cox.</p><p>Cox, as the state's top elections official, was named in the suit.</p><p>At a hearing last month before Camp in Newnan, state officials said they have never prosecuted anyone for violating the rules and a state lawyer acknowledged that the state Board of Elections' language "isn't the best crafted regulation in the world."</p><p>The injunction is the latest legal rebuke of Georgia voting laws this year.</p><p>Earlier this month, a Superior Court judge rejected a new law requiring voters to show a picture ID at the polls.</p><p>It was the fifth ruling by three different state and federal judges blocking the law _ which opponents argue unfairly targets poor, minority and rural voters who are least likely to have a driver's license or other ID card.</p>
