Pa.’s Voter ID Law: What’s the big Deal?
Here’s a guide to everything you ever wanted to know about Pennsylvania’s Voter ID law.
In March, Pennsylvania passed a law requiring all registered voters to show a valid and “acceptable” photo ID before voting. This is one of the strictest voter ID laws in the nation. Voter advocacy groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union and the NAACP, challenged the new requirement and closed their arguments in Commonwealth Court Thursday.
Across the country, 30 states have enacted some type of voter ID reform and it has become a hot button issue in an election year. Pennsylvania is no exception. Supporters say the laws prevent voter fraud; critics say the laws are a political tricks to disenfranchise voters.
Here is a guide to the debate:
What’s the purpose of the law?
According to proponents of the law, including State Senator Daryl Metcalfe (R-12th District) who introduced the Pennsylvania bill, the law is meant to prevent voter fraud.
Who does it affect?
In Pennsylvania, nearly 760,000 registered voters, or 9.2 percent of the state's 8.2 million voter base, don't own state-issued ID cards, according to an analysis of state records by the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Bucks County, with 25,449, and Montgomery County, with 44,952, fall into the top five counties that have registered voters without photo IDs, along with Philadelphia (186,830), Allegheny (99,218) and Delaware (40,547) counties, according to the Pennsylvania State Department.
What’s the controversy?
Those opposing the law say it disproportionately targets the elderly as well as the poor and minorities, who typically vote democratic. Furthermore, critics say that the burden of obtaining an acceptable ID for these people would keep them from voting.
How rampant is voter fraud?
Well, apparently not too much. In a stipulation agreement signed earlier this month, state officials conceded that they had no evidence of prior in-person voter fraud, or even any reason to believe that such crimes would occur with more frequency if a voter ID law wasn't in effect, Huffington Post reports.
In 2007, the New York Times reported it had identified 120 cases of voter fraud nationwide filed by the Justice Department over five years that resulted in 86 convictions.
What will the court challenge determine?
Since the state stipulates that it has no evidence of voter fraud, the case in front of the Commonwealth Court is to decide whether the law is violates the state constitution, whether state lawmakers have the power to enact such a strict law.
Beyond the court challenge, the U.S. Department of Justice has also launched an investigation into Pa.’s new voter ID law based on Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act.
What makes the issue so political?
Prior to the 2006 elections, no state required its voters to show government-issued photo ID at the polls (or elsewhere) in order to vote, according to this report by NYU's Brennan Center for Justice. In 2006, Indiana became the first state in the nation to requie ID, and that law was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court. And except for Rhode Island, all voter ID legislation has been introduced by Republican-majority legislatures, including Pennsylvania’s.
The Brennan report also notes that since the 2010 mid-tern election, when republicans made big gains, voter ID law became a “major legislative policy.” Democrats say voter ID laws are a political tactic to keep democratic voters from the polls.
What’s next?
Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court Judge Robert Simpson plans to issue a ruling on the case the week of Aug. 13. Senior Pa. Deputy Attorney General Patrick Canley, who is defending the law in court, and ACLU legal director Vic Walczak, who is fighting against the law, say they will appeal the decision to the State Supreme Court if they lose.
Related stories:
March 15: Voter ID Bill Signed Into Law
How Do You Get an 'Acceptable' Pennsylvania ID?
More Than 69,000 Bucks, Montgomery Voters Lack Photo ID
Voter ID Fight Heads to Commonwealth Court
Poll: What's the Fate of Pa.’s Voter ID Law?
How Will PA Spread Voter ID Word?
Alternative Ballots: Voter ID Loophole For Seniors, Disabled?
Bucks County Commissioner Might Need New ID to Vote
For a look at the national debate: Everything You’ve Ever Wanted to Know About Voter ID Laws
Bob
11:54 am on Saturday, August 4, 2012
College Students often vote twice at home (by absentee ballot) and at college. There is no way to stop that.
Liberty 1
1:16 pm on Saturday, August 4, 2012
Yes and that is a problem. Perhaps the next step could be a criminal penalty imposed on those who vote two, three, four times a (election) day? Absentee ballots should be easy enough to check against the rolls in your polling station. We should also have ink on our fingers so multiple id holders can not get around the system.
Mike Shortall
9:30 pm on Saturday, August 4, 2012
What's the big deal indeed ...
Fran Diamond
10:06 am on Sunday, August 5, 2012
The big deal here is that the politicians pushing for this change are not doing this to right a wrong, but by their own admission they are targeting a portion of the voting public that voted for Obama in 2008. This does not serve the general population, it serves the party. Shame on them.
Liberty 1
4:52 am on Monday, August 6, 2012
Fran, it sounds a little bigoted to say that a portion of Obamas voters were frauds! It does not matter about parties - ANY fraudulent vote means that a legitimate vote is negated. And THAT is wrong.
Lou
11:52 am on Sunday, August 5, 2012
My mother in law is in her late 80's. The only photo ID she had was an expired driver's license. She can barely walk, but I had to get her in my car and she had to shuffle her way into the DMV, where I had to argue with the woman there that it is free to get a new ID for voting. The woman there wanted to charge my mother in law $18. Then she remembered there is a form to sign so it would be free, so we were not charged.
Then there was a problem with the info in the database, and they wouldn't do it without a birth certificate. We had to leave, and she had to search and search for her birth certificate. We sent away for a new one.
Finally, back to the DMV again, and she got a new photo ID.
That she will never use except for voting, since she hardly leaves her house due to health problems.
Two trips to the DMV, $10 for a new birth certificate, and I had to train the DMV worker about the new law, that there is no $18 fee for this. (How many others has she collected that from?)
Not every senior citizen has someone who could help them that much. There will be many people who will not get to vote.
a m mulroney
8:55 pm on Sunday, August 5, 2012
how does she prove who she is when she goes to the Doctor's I'm nearing 80 and when I'm sent toa doctor I'm always asked for a photo ID. She might as well get it now---ID is necessary
a m mulroney
9:00 pm on Sunday, August 5, 2012
Also Freedom is not free---if one wants to vote badly enough it's worth working for and
Liberty 1
4:44 am on Monday, August 6, 2012
Hey Lou, it sounds like there is an underlying angst with having to drive your mother in law. THAT I may be able to understand!
Steve Sears
8:42 pm on Sunday, August 5, 2012
This last primary voting I found that my name had been removed from the roll and that I could NOT vote without a picture ID. This voting was before the new Voter ID was enacted. Even so I was NOT permitted to vote with a valid picture ID. I have a voter ID registration card issued from Montgomery county, but that was not acceptable. Please not that there is no expiration date on this card. At my voting place I questioned their procedure and was told since my name had been removed from their Voter Roll book, I could NOT vote. I asked who and why did they remove my name from the Voter Roll Book. They pointed to the County Election agency. I called them and I'm still waiting for an answer. I then called the Pennsylvania State Elections agency and they called me back after checking with the county saying that the county was aware of the problem and expected to have it corrected for my next vote.I was alittle upset especially after over 50 years of dedicated voting even while in the military during the Vietnam war. This had never happened before - NEVER! My analysis of this whole fiasco was that this is attempt to assure that the 2012 that Romney would wins the 2012 election!
JohnHerald
12:38 am on Tuesday, August 7, 2012
The only thing I could find votespa.com to help you was: "Once you have registered to vote, you are not required to register again unless you change your residence, name, or political party affiliation." If you were removed from the rolls for some other reason, you have legitimate gripe. I wouldn't blame Romney for that. However, I would condemn all Republican legislators and strategists for Pennsylvania's voter ID law. See my other comment about the election provision in the state's Constitution.
a m mulroney
8:58 pm on Sunday, August 5, 2012
If you haven't voted for (I think )2 elections or maybe it's years name is removed. On the bright side if you vote then die someone can keep voting in your name because no one checks the death notices. How do I know? I saw that in my family and checked back to see that no one had voted in his name then did the work to get it removed. Oops ! secret's out
Lou
11:12 pm on Sunday, August 5, 2012
am mulroney, she had always used her expired ID. No doctor's office ever had a problem with that.
Patrick C
1:54 pm on Monday, August 6, 2012
The voter fraud that this is designed to stop is so small and ineffective unless it is for a local level election. The most dangerous voter fraud is the one done by the people collecting and counting the votes. They can change elections. The truth is that this is just like the old literacy test they gave in the south a way of cutting off voters.
Liberty 1
8:00 pm on Monday, August 6, 2012
Patrick C - You should read up on the 1960 Presidential election. It is very well documented and acknowledged that the JFK campaign not only won the West Virginia primary through fraud but in the general election he beat Nixon through fraud in Chicago (of all places). Nixon should have been the president elect and was shown all the evidence of the fraud but he refused to pursue it because of the damage he thought it would do to the country. A very different time indeed. You are right about the danger of the counters and collectors. And I am not sure going electronic is the best thing also, I am afraid it makes it easier for them.
JohnHerald
12:43 am on Tuesday, August 7, 2012
The big deal, when all is said and done, is the election provision in Pennsylvania's Constitution: Elections shall be free and equal; and no power, civil or military, shall at any time interfere to prevent the free exercise of the right of suffrage." There's not much more to say given all the other facts of this case. To quote Republican House Leader Mike Turzai: Court ruling strikes down Pennsylvania's Voter ID law. Done.
Steve Sears
5:37 pm on Monday, August 13, 2012
I've researching the PA Commonwealth Court Judge - Robert E. Simpson Jr. - whose will determine whether the PA Voter ID is LEGAL. From what I can find my evaluation is that he will find the PA Voter ID an infringement on the legal right to vote as written in the PA Constitution.
Here a link to more information about Judge Simpson Jr. http://www.philly.com/philly/news/politics/20120813_Voter-ID_case_puts_spotlight_on_Pa__judge.ht
Denise Gray
3:02 pm on Thursday, August 16, 2012
Damn right you should need a ID to vote.. You need a ID for everything else.. If you do not have a drivers liscense you can get a state ID.. I don't understand why everyone is freaking out about having to have one.. Everyone should have one for many different reasons
Jim
3:17 pm on Thursday, August 16, 2012
I agree Denise, I get asked for ID on a regular basis, including using a signed credit card...my favorite however was at Boscov when I used my bank card which has my picture on it, and the associate asked if I had a picture ID............:)