MEMPHIS, TN (abc24.com) - Holy cow, can the city of Memphis get involved with legal battles or what? Check out what Memphis City Attorney Herman Morris is saying about the photo ID law requiring a state issued photo identification card to vote. “This is a constitutional right,” he says.
He’s upset over the photo I-D law. Never has a picture encased in plastic brought out such intense feelings among people. Not because there’s no such thing as a good driver's license picture. It’s the whole voting thing. You’ll find supporters like Memphis voter Jessica Benton who says, “I think it’s great because somebody could be voting as somebody else, you know?”
Herman Morris however says he’s never heard of any cases of people using illegal identification to vote in Memphis, or in all of Tennessee. “There are plenty of cases all over town where people steal someone’s identification,” Morris says. “They’ll go and try to cash checks or use a credit card, but they rarely show up with a stolen ID and say they’re there to vote. So that’s a ridiculous issue. It’s a solution that’s looking for a problem and the problem doesn’t exist.”
Several years ago, dead people voted in Memphis. It wasn’t mini-rapture or anything like that. It was a case where a few poll workers were trying to help a lady by the name of Ophelia Ford win her Tennessee State Senate race. A judge ruled Ford had nothing to do with what happened, and she eventually won the election. Morris says this entire law is simply an effort to change the Tennessee Constitution, and to do that, Morris says, requires a constitutional convention. Voters must also approve the idea. “It is woefully wrong and outrageous that the state legislature would presume to limit or place restrictions or additional qualifications on this fundamental right without going through the process.”
Two federal judges and one state judge ruled against the city when they were trying to get photo ID library cards accepted at the polls. The issue now boils down to just the constitutionality. The city wants an emergency hearing with the Tennessee Court of Appeals to issue an injunction. An injunction would stop the law from being used during the upcoming elections. The hearing must happen quickly, because early voting begins in two weeks.
