Voter ID: It ain’t over till it’s over

There are a couple of interesting news items today regarding the state’s new voter ID law.

Gary Rayno reminds us that before the law takes effect, it must be approved by the U.S. Department of Justice for compliance under the Voting Rights Act. (The background on how New Hampshire came to be the only Northern state required to obtain Justice Department “pre-clearance” for election law changes is, in itself, an interesting story.)

Rayno writes that it is unlikely the Justice Department will grant unqualified approval.

Nobody believes the DOJ will simply approve the new law. The department has already found several state photo identification laws in violation of the Voting Rights Act.

It has blocked similar laws in Texas and South Carolina. South Carolina is suing over the ruling. [added link]

And Marc Fortier reports that James O’Keefe could be back in the state this week. On Saturday, convicted filmaker is scheduled to address the Coalition of New Hampshire Taxpayers in Hillsborough.

O’Keefe, you may remember, ducked out of his last New Hampshire engagement to avoid being served a grand jury subpoena. He is under investigation by the Attorney General’s office over his attempt to show “Dead People Vote in New Hampshire” but which, as Media Matters notes, “largely shows the logical incoherence of the right wing’s voter fraud paranoia.”