Atlanta – Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel today announced that her office has filed a brief of amicus curiae in support of Indiana’s photo ID voting requirement in the Indiana Democratic Party v. Rokita case currently pending before the U.S. Supreme Court.

In Rokita, the Indiana Democratic Party is challenging the constitutionality of Indiana’s requirement that voters present photo identification prior to voting in-person. Georgia’s photo ID requirement was upheld in a September ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Harold Murphy. Murphy noted in his ruling that those challenging the requirement were not able to identify even one voter who had been disenfranchised by Georgia’s photo ID law.

Further, Secretary Handel’s amicus brief notes that since the Murphy ruling “there has not been one single demonstrated deprivation of any right to vote or any other violation of a constitutional or statutory right resulting from the photo ID requirement.”

Secretary Handel filed an amicus brief to assist the U.S. Supreme Court in evaluating photo ID requirements in both legal terms and through her experience in overseeing three elections in which the photo ID law was enforced without incident.

The U.S. Supreme Court is currently scheduled to hear oral arguments in the Rokita case on January 9, 2008. The full text of Secretary Handel’s brief of amicus brief can be found on the Secretary of State’s website: www.sos.georgia.gov/elections.

Karen Handel was sworn in as Secretary of State in January 2007. The Secretary of State's office offers important services to our citizens and our business community. Among the office’s wide-ranging responsibilities, the Secretary of State is charged with conducting efficient and secure elections, the registration of corporations, and the regulation of securities and professional license holders. The office also oversees the Georgia Archives and the Capitol Museum.