South Carolina’s Voter ID law struck down

COLUMBIA — The U.S. Department of Justice blocked South Carolina’s new voter ID law on Friday over a concern that the law would discriminate against minorities.

In a five-page letter Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez wrote that South Carolina’s new law that intended to require a picture ID to vote would affect minorities more than whites and create a significant burden for them. Because of South Carolina’s past abuses of the Voting Rights Act, the state needed the federal government’s approval before the law became effective.

Gov. Nikki Haley supports the law and has called it a common-sense approach to protecting voter integrity in the 21st century.Haley said the move was typical of the Obama administration.

"I am working every day to move South Carolina forward, and whether it be illegal immigration reform, creating jobs despite the NLRB, or now Voter ID, the president and his bullish administration are fighting us every step of the way," Haley said in a statement. "It is outrageous, and we plan to look at every possible option to get this terrible, clearly political decision overturned so we can protect the integrity of our electoral process and our 10th amendment rights."

Victoria Middleton, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of South Carolina, applauded the Justice Department decision.

“This misguided law would have prevented countless South Carolinians from exercising one of our most cherished and basic rights,” Middleton said in a statement. “It represented a dramatic setback to voting rights in our state and we are pleased to see it stopped in its tracks.”

The law would have required voters to show a South Carolina’s driver’s license, state-issued ID, passport or military ID to vote. In the future, the state Election Commission was directed to provide voter registration cards with photos.

It is unclear what step the law’s supporters might take to fight the Justice Department order.