Civil rights and voting rights advocates in South Carolina want the federal government to block South Carolina's new voter ID law.
Representatives of the American Civil Liberties Union and the League of Women Voters along with others wrote the Justice Department Friday saying that blacks are less likely than whites to have a driver's license or other photo identification.
The law requires a photo ID to vote and opponents say as many as 180,000 South Carolinians without such identification would be disenfranchised.
The voter ID law was passed by the General Assembly this year and signed into law by Gov. Nikki Haley. However, under the federal Voting Rights Act, the U.S. Justice Department must approve the law before it can take effect.
