Breaking: No IDs Required to Vote in Pennsylvania
This just in, and it is good news for the good guys — the lower courts judge who was required to review an earlier decision has made his ruling, mostly leaving the law in place, but noting that if you show up to vote and have no ID, you are allowed to vote. There’s more to come, I’m sure, but this seems to be the nut of it:
In his ruling, which is widely expected to be appealed to the Supreme Court, Simpson ordered an injunction that would target the portion of the law that deals with provisional ballots.
As written, the law said voters who do not bring proper photo ID on Election Day can cast a provisional ballot. They would then have six days to bring in the required photo ID for their votes to count.
But as he had indicated last week during hearings in the case, Simpson decided that the law does not disenfranchise voters simply because it requires poll workers to ask for photo ID. Rather, the risk comes when a voter casts a provisional ballot but then cannot obtain the necessary identification in time.
Add more as you hear it in the comments.
Tags: Voting Rights
This sounds like good news. I hope it is true that the efforts to disenfranchise Democratic voters is blowing up in the face of the GOP.
The “True the Vote” disenfranchisement activists seem determined to create as much chaos as possible.
What was really interesting about this case was that it produced a ton of data showing:
1. This was a solution in search of a problem
2. That there really is a substantial group of Americans who don’t need ID to live their lives every day.
This is great!
I’m thinking that this PA voting ID requirement will now disappear – until immediately before the next election. The GOP’s goal here wasn’t getting people IDs. It was enacting a law close to the election to make sure people didn’t find out about the new requirements – until they were turned away from the polls – or have time to get the ID.
As someone who is working Democratic politics in PA, I can tell you this is a HUGE win for us… But @Pandora, while you’re right this will disappear until the next election, the next election in PA will be in May 2013 for our local races (school board, Sheriff, Town commissions etc.) Literally every 6 months (give or take a few weeks) PA has an election… This law needs to be phased in over time, not just enforced at the next election.
This is a win for democracy and it’s a win for Democrats in PA.
With 35 days to go, this is one less hurdle we need to worry about in the immediate future!
not to mention that under the Federal motor-voter laws it is illegas to remove voters from the rolls less than 90 days before an election
glad someone is watching out for the voter
but this judge was willing to let it go forward until the PA Supreme COurt sent it back down to him to “properly” review AGAIN
this apparently has riled up the Democratic base that doesnt like these voter supression tacics by the GOP
they really are acting desperate and their house of cards is falling apart
If the Dems were really smart on this issue, they would push for issuing universal voting IDs that implies mandatory voting. With mandatory voting the GOP (as we know) it is totally dead.
I do like how you think, LE. 😉
There’s nothing wrong with accurate voting rolls, but the onus should be on the states, not the voters. Voters have a right to vote; states have a responsibility to make sure it’s valid. Purge the dead, cross-index with DMV so addresses stay current — there’s no good reason but skulduggery, on both sides, for not using modern technology to keep these rolls up to date.
Could you imagine the wingnut freakout if the Dems proposed a national voting ID?
AGENDA TWENTY OOOOOOOONE !!!!! BITCHES!!!!!!