Voting Rights Chief to Leave Post

The beleaguered head of the Justice Department's voting rights section announced yesterday that he is being transferred to another job in the agency.

John K. Tanner told his staff in a letter that he is moving to the Office of Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices after nearly 32 years in the Voting Section.

Tanner has come under fire for making racially charged statements earlier this year, including a suggestion that black voters are not harmed as much as whites by voter identification laws because "they die first."

He apologized for the "tone" of his remarks in subsequent House testimony, but held to his overall argument that demographic differences temper the impact of identification laws on minorities.

Tanner also was criticized by Democrats for approving a Georgia voter identification law in 2005 that later was struck down by a federal court as discriminatory.

Tanner is the subject of an investigation by the Office of Professional Responsibility into his travel records and trips he approved for a subordinate, officials have said.

The Justice Department filed a friend-of-the-court brief earlier this week siding with an Indiana identification law that has been criticized by liberal groups and many voting experts.