The one-page letter says the recipient is on a list of registered voters who might not have a driver's license or photo ID card. It requests those who do have licenses to contact the county elections and registrations office and let it know their IDs are valid. Driver's licenses aren't needed to vote, the letter continues, because voters can use five other photo IDs when voting.
But the letter is wrong because a court ruling bars the state from enforcing the controversial voter ID law.
``I think the voters might be a little concerned,'' said Nancy Boren, executive director of the Muscogee County Office of Elections and Registrations. ``You get a letter in the mail that says, 'You might not have an ID.'''
On Sept. 19, Fulton County Superior Court Judge T. Jackson Bedford Jr. rejected the state's most recent attempt to require voters to present a government-issued photo ID at the polls.
But that ruling came about two weeks after the State Election Board voted to mail the 300,000 letters, said David Worley, a member of the board. At the time the board decided to mail the letters, the law requiring photo ID was in place.
``It has caused a lot of confusion,'' Worley said.
The letters were printed in batches; when one batch was complete, it was mailed and another begun. About 280,000 letters were mailed before Bedford's ruling, Worley said. The remaining 20,000 went out afterward.
Worley emphasized that voting in next month's election will be no different from voting in the 2004 election. Voters can show one of 17 forms of ID, or show no ID at all and sign an affidavit swearing the voter is who they claim to be.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2006/10/102509