MEMPHIS, TN (abc24.com) - Let’s face it, says Memphis City Attorney Herman Morris, this legal stuff isn’t brain surgery. He has a huge problem with the state law which says while expired drivers licenses from other states can be used for voter identification, a current Memphis Library Photo ID Card can’t. “We think the law is wrong,” Morris says. “I have serious questions about its constitutionality quite frankly.”
BOOYAH! In your face, Nashville. The city attorney says Memphis hasn’t even started to fight. Morris says the new Memphis Library Card was designed to be used as official identification. Memphis Light Gas and Water honors them, he says. Tennessee state elections folks don’t. City officials never asked state folks whether the cards would be accepted, and Morris makes no apologies about that. “Why would we ask them,” he said, “…when we’re the ones they come to for opinions and advice when they have questions?”
Morris is referring to a question years ago concerning whether a candidate was living at his correct address. He says state elections officials asked the city attorneys office for an opinion. This time, they say Memphis should have asked them for an opinion. But opinions are just like… well, you know what opinions are like. Everybody has one. In Herman Morris’s opinion, this legal fight will cost taxpayers some money, but not that much, even though he can’t even give a rough estimate as to the costs. “It has cost us and my staff some time,” he says. “I’m sure that we’ll have some expenses from the outside counsel that’s on board, but keep in mind this lawsuit is just a week old.”
The NAACP is watching the Memphis case. The group has come out against tougher voter identification laws saying they discriminate against the poor and the elderly. Morris met with lawyers from the NAACP before this case went to court. Two judges have ruled against the city’s contention that the library card is legal voter identification. Right now, however, Morris says he’s more worried about Election Day. “We’ve got people,” he says, “citizens in our city who are about to be denied their constitutional right to vote.”
