Voter ID Requirement Out For November 6 Election
HARRISBURG — Commonwealth Court Judge Robert Simpson on Tuesday ordered the state not to enforce the photo ID requirement in this year’s presidential election, but will allow it to go into full effect next year.
The decision, just a month before the election, was a partial victory for Democrats, who contended that the ID requirement would mostly affect the party’s low-income and urban voters who did not have driver licenses.
During a two-day hearing after the state Supreme Court kicked back to the Commonwealth Court its original decision upholding the law, the justices heard testimony about long lines and ill-informed employees at Penn DOT driver’s license centers where some registered voters were sent to get a state-issued photo ID.
Benjamin Todd Jealous, President & CEO of the NAACP, said “Today’s ruling is a victory for the Pennsylvania voter. On Nov. 6, voters will no longer need to produce an identification to ensure that their vote is counted.
“As we look towards 2013, the Pennsylvania NAACP will take this battle from the courts to the legislature. We are confident that this state will not tolerate voter suppression.”
Jerome Mondesire, President of the NAACP Pennsylvania State Conference, stated “The ruling today is encouraging for all Pennsylvanians. Unfortunately, it is a decision that should have been made a long time ago. With 35 days left until Election Day, the state must work with the NAACP and other leading organizations to limit voter confusion.
“We will work to ensure that poll workers do not wrongly enforce the law, and that all counties are monitored on Election Day.”
House Majority Leader Mike Turzai (R-Allegheny County), who led the campaign to pass the Voter ID law in the Pa. House and who made comments in June that the new law “would allow Governor Romney to win the state of Pennsylvania,” said Tuesday, “Today’s decision by the Commonwealth Court upholds Act 18, and voter identification, and that is good.
“Voter Identification is about ensuring the integrity of our elections and preserving the principle of the ‘One person, One vote’ doctrine.
“When votes are diluted through fraud, the system starts to break down. Voter identification has always been about creating a level playing field where every Pennsylvanian’s vote represents an equal opportunity to have a voice in government.
“The fact is, the election integrity provisions that have passed the House have been to preserve the right of every citizen who is entitled to vote to be able to vote, and every citizen who votes should be sure that his or her vote has not been diluted by somebody else’s fraud.”