The Justice Department on Friday moved to block South Carolina’s voter ID law, saying it unfairly burdens non-white voters.

In blocking the law, the Obama Administration said the state’s law, requiring voters to show specific types of state-issued identification in order to vote, could make it difficult for minorities to cast a ballot.

Under the law, anyone who does not have a photo identification must obtain a new voter registration card that includes a photo. A birth certificate or passport can be used to prove identity.

The Justice Department said the requirement could harm the right to vote of tens of thousands of people, noting that just over one-third of the state’s minorities who are registered voters did not have a driver’s license needed to cast a ballot.

The state can appeal the decision at the Justice Department or in federal court.

Democrats have accused Republican legislators in South Carolina and other states of passing voter ID laws in order to suppress the votes of minorities, young people and others who typically vote Democratic, and who are less likely to have the required types of identification, in an attempt to reduce the votes available to Obama and Democratic lawmakers in 2012.