ROME, Ga. -- A federal judge on Tuesday issued an injunction prohibiting the enforcement of a controversial law that requires Georgia voters to show a photo identification before voting.

Judge Harold Murphy issued the ruling after both sides argued in a north Georgia courtroom over its validity. Murphy's ruling means voters who go to the polls in November will not have to show their identification.

A group of voter and civil rights organizations filed suit in federal court last month seeking to overturn the new state law.

It was approved this year by the first Legislature since Reconstruction under complete Republican control and after fierce opposition, including a brief walkout, by Democrats.

It eliminated the use of several previously accepted forms of identification to vote, including Social Security cards, birth certificates and utility bills, and required voters to produce a picture ID such as a driver's license, military identification or state-issued identification card.

The Justice Department, required to review election law changes in Georgia and other states with a history of racial discrimination, gave Georgia the go-ahead to implement the law.

The suit, filed by organizations including Common Cause, the League of Women Voters, the Georgia Legislative Black Caucus and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, contends the law violates provisions of both the state and national Constitutions.

"Photographic identification as a requirement for voting is antidemocratic and prevents people from exercising their fundamental right to vote whether proposed by the General Assembly of the state of Georgia or the Carter-Baker commission," said Daniel Levitas of the American Civil Liberties Union's voting rights project when the lawsuit was filed.

Last month, Dan McLagan, a spokesman for Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue, said the law was intended to deter voter fraud.

"Requiring an ID to vote is common sense and has been instituted in other states," he said. "Under the old system, you could pluck a utility bill out of somebody's trash can and cast a vote."

At the time the lawsuit was filed, House Speaker Glenn Richardson, R-Hiram, called the law "a common sense measure" and denounced the suit as "liberal special interests using unconscionable scare tactics to frighten Georgia voters."

Channel 2 Action News reporter Lori Geary contributed to this report.