Elie Mystal: Ga. Voting ID Law Biased Against People with Names Like ‘Dwayne Elizando Mountain Due Herbert Komancho’

‘They’re appealing to the very people who destroyed the Voting Rights Act in the first place’

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RUSH EXCERPT:

MYSTAL: "Yes. We need to look at also how cynical this Georgia legislation is. Right? When you say the exact match law, I don’t think people always understand just how bad this is. All right? So exact match means your information has to match exactly what the state has on your, about you. Right? If there’s a discrepancy, that means you can’t vote. If I’m listed as living at CitiField, which is a good place to live because I don’t play baseball. The state listed at Shea Stadium. I can’t vote." 
REID: "Right." 
MYSTAL: "For newer Americans, the naming conventions are particularly important. Like newer Americans have different naming conventions than, you know, Anglo-Saxon came on the Mayflower people." 
REID: "Right." 
MYSTAL: "So my name, if I go by Dwayne Komacho, but the state has me listed as  Dwayne Elizando Mountain Due Herbert, I can’t vote. The lawsuit should work but remember who they’re suing. Who they’re appealing to. They’re appealing to the very people who destroyed the Voting Rights Act in the first place. Right? They’re appealing to people who do not believe that the Constitution requires them to look at the discriminatory effect of laws, to figure out if the law is racially biased. So the lawsuit is, should work, but that would assume neutral arbiter which we don’t have anymore, we know.

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