PA voter registration halted for Presidential election (Full Version)

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tazzygirl -> PA voter registration halted for Presidential election (10/3/2012 9:35:33 PM)

Judge blocks enforcement of portion of Pa. voter ID law

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/state/judge-issues-partial-injunction-on-states-voter-id-law-655822/#ixzz28IkfiM7X

HARRISBURG -- A judge has blocked the state from discounting ballots cast next month by voters who lack the photo identification required under the new voter ID law.

Voters will be asked for their identification at the polls, but will vote by normal procedures and their vote will count regardless of whether they have an ID, according to officials on both sides of the case.

Commonwealth Court Judge Robert Simpson wrote in an order released this morning that the injunction would have the effect of extending the transition period of the law -- when voters were asked for identification but could vote without it -- through the November election. His order allows election workers to ask voters next month to show identification but not to bar people from voting without one.




I have no issue with the law itself. My issue was with the timing.




atursvcMaam -> RE: PA voter registration halted for Presidential election (10/3/2012 9:53:18 PM)

I have resd this thing several times, and think your caption is pretty misleading. This actually doesn't disenfranchise anyone unless i missed some invisible line in the article.




tazzygirl -> RE: PA voter registration halted for Presidential election (10/3/2012 10:02:52 PM)

Actually it does. The elderly and the poor. The rush to implement it means many will have to make repeat visits to the DMV offices.. and some counties dont have one.

quote:

John Burkoff, a University of Pittsburgh law professor who closely follows the state Supreme Court, said the justices do not like the law as it is written.

“It doesn’t take a nuclear physicist to figure that out,” Burkoff said.

One major problem is the “safety net” photo ID card that the law identifies as the last resort for voters without any other valid form of photo ID. Federal Homeland Security regulations on that particular ID card make it difficult, if not outright impossible, for some people without official birth records or proof of a home address to get one.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/pa-judge-blocks-photo-id-rule-for-election-day-voters-in-presidential-battleground-state/2012/10/02/0523bc52-0d00-11e2-ba6c-07bd866eb71a_story.html

This went to the State Supreme, who sent it back to the Court that initially upheld the law, resulting in the appeal.

Its not so much the law as the time frame. 6 months from making this law, 800,000 people were supposed to gather information and make a bee line to PennDot, the research has to be done, birth records searched.... there simply was not enough time to implement all this. Which is what the Judge found in his ruling.

PennDot didnt even start offering the voter ID card until 10 weeks before elections.




DesideriScuri -> RE: PA voter registration halted for Presidential election (10/4/2012 4:55:06 AM)

Tazzy, wouldn't it have been a better title to state the "PA Voter ID Requirement Halted" rather than voter registration being halted? When I read your title, I was gearing up to support your ire against stopping people from registering. That might be what atursvcMaam was talking about, too.

I have no problem with voter ID laws, in general. I support an ID requirement. I also support giving people enough time to get them, and providing acceptable State ID's free to any eligible that don't have a Driver's License. While I do agree with the requirement and laws stating such, I also understand that there are timelines that can not always be kept. 6 months is not enough time. IMO, this should have been done prior to an off-year election with the timeline for enforcement not until the following Presidential election. In cases where legislatures changed hands after an off-year election, giving people at least a year prior to the Presidential election should have happened. Not having ID's available until 10 wks. prior to the election is ridiculous, too.

In Ohio, there is a Driver's License and there is a State ID card. State ID cards, I believe, provide every benefit a Driver's License provides, except the license to operate a motor vehicle. They have been around as long as I've been old enough to have my temporary license. Does PA have those same 2 options, and is this Voter ID a 3rd type of identification?




tazzygirl -> RE: PA voter registration halted for Presidential election (10/4/2012 5:34:04 AM)

quote:

Tazzy, wouldn't it have been a better title to state the "PA Voter ID Requirement Halted"


Yep, you are correct. Was in the middle of a few things and a lengthy conversation when I posted that.. my bad on the title.

PA will have three, it seems. The two ID's you discussed and this one.

http://www.dmv.state.pa.us/voter/voteridlaw.shtml






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