Latinos weigh in on Georgia voter ID debate

• Originally published in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution March 21, 2005 Copyright 2005

 
By  TOM BAXTER, JIM GALLOWAY

The debate over the legislation to require voters to present photo identification at the polls has been cast as a matter of history, in black and white.

The future is in black, white and brown.

From the wells of the House and Senate, argument has focused on the impact that two bills, both with the same aim, would have on poor and elderly black voters who might be inconvenienced or intimidated. Nearly every black legislator who spoke against the bills had a story about discrimination suffered by their parents or grandparents.

Black voter registration is rising steadily in Georgia, but these new voters are neither poor nor old. The average income of African-Americans in Fayette County is now higher than whites. In Clayton County, black college graduates now outnumber white college graduates by more than 3 to 2. If these are isolated cases, they point to a future in which the political assumptions about black voters will change dramatically.

These voters aren't likely to be without driver's licenses or to be easily intimidated at the polls. It's a different story with the fastest-growing voter group in Georgia: Latinos.

Last year, the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials protested incidents in Atkinson and Long counties in which Latino registered voters were challenged --- every Latino voter in the county, in the case of Atkinson.

That helps explain the chilling effect that photo ID legislation could have on Latinos, said state Sen. Sam Zamarripa (D-Atlanta).

Even perfectly legal Latino voters have anxieties about the question of documentation. "In any given Latino household, you can have documented people and undocumented people," Zamarripa said.

State Rep. David Casas (R-Lilburn), who was born in the Canary Islands to Cuban parents, voted for the photo ID bill in the House last week. He disagrees with Zamarripa.

"This is a way for us to protect our voter rolls, and I don't think it negatively impacts the Latino community at all," Casas said. While illegal immigrants may have a problem with it, Latinos who are citizens "aren't going to have any reservations in showing an identification card," he said.

Last year, Latino voter registration grew by 100 percent or more in 45 Georgia counties. In Gwinnett County, it grew 568 percent. That means that while African-American legislators frame the issue in terms of what happened to their parents and grandparents, the debate over Latino voters is just getting warmed up.

For them, it's about what happens to their grandchildren.

Cold shoulder for rail

And you thought abortion was the subject that separates conservative Republicans from even more conservative Republicans.

Ever since landing in Washington as a congressman, Johnny Isakson has been an advocate for rail --- specifically a high-speed rail line through the Southeast that would ease traffic at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport as well as on the interstates.

This year, Isakson persuaded the state Senate to add $203,500 in matching money to the state budget to study a high-speed rail system from Atlanta to Charlotte. Isakson already has secured the federal portion.

"The states of South Carolina and North Carolina have already provided matching funds, and it's important that Georgia do the same so we can study the feasibility of this route," Isakson said.

The state Senate added very few projects to the budget this year. And state Sen. George Hooks of Americus, a Democrat who served many years as chairman of the chamber's budget committee, said it's even more rare for legislators to add projects for members of Congress.

But this may be as far as Isakson gets. Though the U.S. senator first made his mark in politics as the leader of House Republicans, it's his old chamber --- not to mention his own party --- that's giving him the cold shoulder.

Gov. Sonny Perdue has been cutting rail programs from the state budget in recent years, not adding them. House Speaker Glenn Richardson and Rules Chairman Earl Ehrhart are Road Republicans --- sworn enemies of rail as a solution to Georgia's transportation woes.

So House budget negotiators expressed surprise that the Senate put in the money --- not a vast sum by state standards. They immediately began putting knives to whetstone.

"They have been studying these rail lines for years," said House Appropriations Chairman Ben Harbin (R-Evans). "With all the money spent on studying them, we could have built one by now."

Harbin said railway systems such as Amtrak have become "a black hole you have to fill each year."

Of Isakson's request, Harbin said, "We have a lot of priorities in this state, and that's not a priority."

So don't be surprised if, today, Isakson is told that his rail study got the ax during the weekend.

--- Staff writer James Salzer contributed to this article.