Taking a break from arming Mexican gangs, Eric Holder's Justice Department declared that it would not give preclearance to South Carolina's Voter ID law, which would require voters to present photo identification when casting ballots. This decision came earlier today in spite of revelations earlier this week about problems with state voter registration data which might facilitate voting by those ineligible to cast ballots:

For instance, the DMV found that the Election Commission had “several instances of seemingly incongruous, illogical or nonconforming data” that included what appeared be a 130-year-old voter, 25 voters registered at a Sumter County jail and 19 registered at a Myrtle Beach Post Office. The commission “even told us that they knowingly changed Social Security numbers by a single digit when they moved from one county to another because their computers were incapable of acknowledging the same number as part of the transfer process from one county to another,” Shwedo wrote.

Attorney General Alan Wilson responded several hours later, tweeting: "I will file a Declaratory Judgement action in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia as soon as possible." This course of action is consistent with a promise made earlier this year in a Blogland interview with State Rep. Alan Clemmons, who chairs the House subcommittee on election law. Clemmons believed:

Declaratory Judgement is a process allowed for in Section Five of the Voting Rights Act, which allows cities, counties and states who are required to submit election laws and changes to the Justice Department to bypass Justice and seek approval from a three-judge panel in the Washington D.C. District Federal Court.

Such a course of action was initiated earlier this year to head off concerns that Justice would not approve the state's Congressional and legislative redistricting maps. As those maps were eventually approved by Justice, the action was dropped. However, the state of Georgia employed this approach to ensure its Voter ID law would be implemented, forcing Justice to relent to avoid creating a precedent of using the judicial bypass process.

A poll conducted by Rasmussen earlier this week showed sixty-nine percent of those surveyed support requiring voters to present ID when voting. This is fairly consistent with other polls on the subject.

Since the federal Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 has long required prospective employees to show photo ID to prove their eligibility to work in the United States, today's Voter ID decision seems to create a double standard.

Maybe Holder's Justice Department will be "fast and furious" to reconsider their position, but we're not holding our breath. Given South Carolina's stated aggressive position on defending the state's right to establish its own election laws, we expect more action on this front soon.