Arizona: DOJ (?) says voter ID bill would not violate federal law
The Arizona Republic reports: The U.S. Department of Justice said Friday that Gov. Janet Napolitano erred when she vetoed a bill that would have prevented people from casting a provisional ballot at a polling place if they could not produce identification.
Napolitano vetoed Senate Bill 1118 on April 1, saying that she thought it violated the federal Voting Rights Act because it might prevent registered voters from getting a provisional ballot if, for example, they were robbed of their identification shortly before the election.
Secretary of State Jan Brewer had pushed hard for the bill as a clarification to Proposition 200, which mandated identification at the polls.
On Friday, Brewer got a letter from Sheldon Bradshaw, a deputy assistant attorney general with the Civil Rights Division of Justice, who said Brewer's proposed legislation would not have conflicted with federal law. ...
The fact that the Justice letter was written by Bradshaw and not the head of the Civil Rights Division or the department's chief of the Voting Section could raise questions about partisan political maneuvering. According to a federal government Web site, Bradshaw was not even employed at DOJ at the time he wrote to Brewer. His letter is dated April 15, but a news release announced his hire as chief counsel for the Food and Drug Administration "effective April 1."
Bradshaw was also a central figure in the forced redistricting of Texas two years ago to create more Republican congressional seats. In that controversial decision, it was Bradshaw again, rather than a higher-ranking Justice official, who authored the letter that gave Texas lawmakers the go-ahead to redraw their districts. -- Governor erred in vetoing provisional-ballot bill, Justice official says
In addition, I wonder why the Justice Department would even give an opinion on a bill that has not been enacted.