SC Senate Democrats formally protest voter ID law

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina Senate Democrats have filed a late protest of the new voter law that requires government-issued photo identification to vote.

Friday’s filing by the Senate Democratic Caucus came three days before a decision on whether the law can be enforced was due from the U.S. Justice Department.

Democrats call the new law the nation’s most restrictive and say it targets a state where blacks voted in equal percentages to whites for the first time in 2008. They say people with suspended driver’s licenses won’t be able to vote.

Republicans say the law is needed to prevent voter fraud.

The state estimates as many as 178,000 current registered voters lack required government-issued photo IDs. State election officials say registered voters can cast absentee ballots by mail without photo IDs.