Pa. Voter ID Challenge is a Case of Contradictions
The state Supreme Court has little time to decide on the challenge to Pa.'s new Voter ID law
By Eric Boehm | PA Independent
HARRISBURG — As Pennsylvania’s new voter ID law goes before the state Supreme Court, the case is a study in contradictions.
The eight plaintiffs — who are seeking an injunction to prevent the law from taking effect before the Nov. 6 election because thousands of Pennsylvanians couldn’t obtain the necessary identification in time — possess the required photo identification or other documentation the new law requires to vote.
Before voting in Pennsylvania this year, residents must show a photo ID, unless the state Supreme Court strikes down the new law.
No matter, say their attorneys, because the law could still disenfranchise about 100,000 other Pennsylvanians who do not have those credentials.
“The vice is not in requiring photo identification, the vice is in requiring photo identification that not everyone has or has the ability to obtain,” David Gersch, a plaintiff for the challengers, told the Supreme Court during oral arguments on Thursday in Philadelphia.
Meanwhile, attorneys for the state — who are defending a law aimed at preventing voter fraud — have said they cannot provide any examples of in-person voter fraud occurring in Pennsylvania.
No matter, they say, because the law is within the constitutional authority of the General Assembly.
While the right to vote is fundamental, voting cannot take place without state regulation, and fashioning that regulation is the legitimate role of the General Assembly, said John Knorr, representing the state Attorney General’s Office.
Now the state Supreme Court must sort out this mess.
The high court must decide if it will overturn the decision of Commonwealth Court Judge Robert Simpson, who upheld the voter ID law last month.
That ruling was appealed by the plaintiffs, who argue the new law — passed in March — did not give voters enough time to comply with burden of obtaining the necessary photo identification.
“There is too little time, and there are too many people affected,” Gersch said.
Justice Michael Eakin said the new requirement for voting would always pose a burden to voters, regardless of the time.
The implementation process alone was not grounds for overturning a lower court ruling, agreed Chief Justice Ron Castille.
Eakin also dismissed plaintiffs’ argument that there is no evidence of voter fraud.
“There was fraud in the time of George Washington, and there will be fraud 200 years from now,” he said.
But Justice Debra Todd said the process of implementing the new law was a key part of evaluating whether the Legislature overstepped its authority in passing the voter ID requirement.
“How much better could we do if we had two years” to implement the law and inform voters, instead of a few months? she asked, challenging the attorneys for the state. “What’s the rush?”
Knorr responded that the election process would be more sound with the new rules in place.
“This system is better than the one that we had before,” he said, adding that the plaintiffs had not provided any actual evidence of any individuals who couldn’t obtain the necessary identification before Election Day.
With the court evenly divided between three Republican justices and three Democratic justices, there is a possibility of a party-line decision and a 3-3 deadlock on the court. Such a ruling would uphold the law, as a majority of the court is required to overturn a lower court ruling.
The court’s seventh member, Justice Joan Orie Melvin, a Republican, is suspended from the bench until her pending trial is resolved. She is charged with using legislative and judicial staff to assist her 2009 campaign for election to the court.
Bruce Ledewitz, a law professor at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, said Thursday that a 3-3 split decision would be “the worst possible outcome,” because it would make the whole process look like a partisan political maneuver — though he noted the state Supreme Court has shown itself to be less partisan than other branches of government.
Either way, the election is only seven weeks away and the justices “will have to decide quickly, because not to decide is effectively a decision,” he said.
mark wood
7:47 am on Saturday, September 15, 2012
just incase you didn't know, a seventh judge was sitting , but was removed because of her legal problems, just once you should print some facts, the Commonwealth has always used the odd judge number to prevent split decisions, but the writers are either ignorant or just refuse to print the facts, be like the "Moaning Flaw" (morning call to some of you,) omit facts, print half truths and call it a paper, soon you will be like some of you other rags across the country, 3 day rag. looking forward to the day your paper ceases and decist. and your misiformed writers of your patches will go the way of the dodo too. but noe soon enough.
Crestor Januvia
12:40 pm on Monday, September 17, 2012
Owned by Huffington Post... that should tell you everything you need to know. Hey, have you signed up for "Dinner with Barack" yet? Or sent "Barack and Michelle" a happy anniversary message, or told Michelle you are "On Board"?
Kathy Gleason
8:13 am on Saturday, September 15, 2012
If the Pennsylvania Supreme court upholds this unjust and blatantly oppressive law it will be a black mark on the commonwealth founded by William Penn, who advocated freedom and tolerance for all.
Pennsylvania will be moving backward if voter suppression remains the law of the land. Our state will be a laughingstock. Other states have already struck down laws which suppress the right to vote. People and corporations will rightly think twice before moving here.
I urge all voters to educate themselves about the ramifications of this law and the consequences of allowing partisan restriction of our most fundamental right as citizens: the right to cast a ballot on election day.
Ann Marie Jeffries
1:30 pm on Saturday, September 15, 2012
First let tme say. I am a registered Democrat. Then let me say that I am proof of either fraud or error. You be the judge. During the last election Presidential election, I went to vote. It was I am sad to say, the first time in many years. iMAGINE MY SURPRISE, WHEN i WAS TOLD THAT i HAD ALREADY VOTED!! It took about a half hour for them to figure out out to fix it but I told them I was not leaving until I voted. I don't know how they fixed it perhapas they just pretneded I was some other voter they thought probably wouldn't show up.
Crestor Januvia
12:37 pm on Monday, September 17, 2012
Ann Marie... don't confuse the Obama supporters with facts.
Crestor Januvia
12:38 pm on Monday, September 17, 2012
The consequences? Democrats won't be able to run their usual voter fraud processes down in Phila.... we might have a real vote this time.
Maynard G Krebs
9:47 am on Saturday, September 15, 2012
The article says this law is to prevent voter fraud, but that's not true. It's to elect Mitt Romney. Stop the lying. This election will be as phony as the one in 2000 that put Bush in office, and look at what a disaster that was.
Crestor Januvia
12:36 pm on Monday, September 17, 2012
There was nothing phony about 2000, only a bunch of democratic voters too stupid to read a ballot. Two different newspapers counted every vote, and Bush won Florida. Get over it already. Quit mentioning Bush.... you have your own disaster in office now.
KRigger
3:45 pm on Monday, September 17, 2012
No Peety......it will put in office who shold be in office as one vote per person who is eligible to vote. Got it.....one legal vote per person. No more dead people voting.....no more 125% voter turnout in Philly......just a vote the way it sould be...If Mitt wins then that is the way it should be.
Walter
10:49 am on Saturday, September 15, 2012
Get a life people.
This new requirement does not affect one party more than the other.
It is a sound idea that makes sense for all.
It is a free process. If you wish to accomplish it, you will.
There are people who spend months, maybe years, studying to obtain their citizenship so that they may have the right to vote. I truly admire those that do.
Those of you that won’t spend a few hours out of your day to obtain / maintain your right to vote disgust me.
vincent
10:53 am on Saturday, September 15, 2012
When I was issued a voter registration card it did not have my photo, yet it is or was legal to use. If the republicans wish to require the citizens of our state to present a photo ID upon voting, then have the stae ISSUE a photo ID on the registration card. They must also allow enough time to accomplish the task..six years(length of one senate term) ..fair is fair
High-On-Lehigh
2:11 pm on Saturday, September 15, 2012
I second that!
Anita Soltysiak
11:11 am on Saturday, September 15, 2012
Ok.. let me see. It takes longer than 7 months to obtain a photo ID? In this day and age? Come on! As I see it, that is more than sufficient time. I personally like the idea of proving that I AM A CITIZEN with the ID necessary to cast my fundamental right to vote. I believe with citizenship comes certain responsibilities, one being having proper identification. We need these to obtain employment, drive a vehicle, apply for gov't aid like food assistance, purchase alcohol or tobacco. No one gripes about those rules. If a legal citizen doesn't have ID or documentation to obtain an ID, then they are not a responsible citizen and forfeit their right to vote.
Morgan King
11:30 am on Saturday, September 15, 2012
It was passed into law in March, but PennDot didn't actually have free photo IDs that met the voting requirements available until 18 days ago.
http://cumberlink.com/news/local/penndot-to-issue-free-id-cards-at-driver-licensing-centers/article_be275506-f063-11e1-a689-0019bb2963f4.html
Crestor Januvia
12:35 pm on Monday, September 17, 2012
Great... then all the lamo's will have 2 months to get an idea. Offer them $50 in lottery tickets or a carton of cigarrettes if they come for an ID... they'll come in droves.
another point of view
12:07 pm on Saturday, September 15, 2012
Those are not the only problems. Testimony before the state supreme court noted that nine counties have no PennDOT office and 10 others have offices that are open only one day a week. The estimated demand for new state IDs outstrips PennDOT's capacity to issue them. On top of that, the law requires PennDot to issue IDs; the notion that the Secretary of the Commonwealth can issue IDs is something that the administration added to deal with the problem of missing birth certificates. Younger Pennsylvanians have birth certificates issued by the state. 75 years ago, certificates were issued by local municipalities. Finding certificates in most towns in lost books is difficult and makes that portion of the law not manageable. An earlier poster mentioned the Stinson election fraud case. That case only verifies that the ID requirement is useless. Enforcement of election laws is up to people and if they are corrupt, all of the ID in the world is not going to eliminate corruption. The New York times reported on the Stinson case in Feb, 1994 that "the two Democrats on the three-member board of elections, an elected body, testified that they were aware of the voter fraud, had intentionally failed to enforce the election law and had later tried to conceal their activities by hurriedly certifying the Democratic candidate as the winner." Stinson's election was invalidated by the court. The ID is a waste of time and does not prevent the voter fraud that has prevailed in the past.
Elsa
12:13 pm on Saturday, September 15, 2012
The democrat's doth protest too much !
John F. Haines
2:16 pm on Saturday, September 15, 2012
For information on PA Voters ID, please go to www.youtube.com/jhainessr and check out the videos.
Amend Wun
2:21 pm on Saturday, September 15, 2012
@Elsa- it would be more accurate to say that those proposing this legislation doth protest to much, for they are the ones creating legislation to stop in-person voter fraud when there is no evidence that it is occurring. If there is no evidence of such a thing, then why create the legislation, and why rush to implement it? Unless those in favor somehow believe that tens of thousands of people are planning on fraudentlly voting by impersonation registered voters in the upcoming election. If that's the case, and in light of the lack of evidence that such a thing might occur, it makes one wonder why those in favor hold that position.
Crestor Januvia
12:33 pm on Monday, September 17, 2012
Yes, there is evidence that it has happened many places. Democrats hate this because they count on voter fraud.
High-On-Lehigh
2:24 pm on Saturday, September 15, 2012
The devious Republican leadership is too smart for its own good. Despite their brilliant plan to disenfranchise enough poor and elderly voters to win Pennsylvania (and several other states) and put Romney over the top, by uncovering their true colors this Machiavellian plot is going to work against them.
Crestor Januvia
12:32 pm on Monday, September 17, 2012
Ya, you're high all right.
KRigger
3:51 pm on Monday, September 17, 2012
dream on dude you sound like my wife you get your news from the people who have Obama behind on their face. There is no way Obama is going to win this with the economy still the way it is and unemployment as bad as it it......unless you are one of those who are enjoying unemployment (recieving gov checks) In most elections since the economic crash the T party candidates have won even when the polls said that they wouldn't. I don't believe in polls they are BS made up to support who ever is funding them......
Amend Wun
2:34 pm on Saturday, September 15, 2012
@Walter- and those who seek to limit the rights of American citizens on an assumption that has no statistical evidence to support it aren't disgusting to you? how can that fact, the absence of evidence (and the fact that it is specifically a republican agenda item), not concern you? That's the real issue, not how simply it might seem to some for those affected to be able to obtain the required ID. And even that is a dubious argument as was pointed out by the court when you noted that PennDot doesn't possess the needed infrastructure to assist those affected in time for the election. Have we become so jaded and callous as to not see that this legislation will put an undo burden of hundreds of thousands of people all under the auspices of a phantom fear? Disgusted indeed.
Crestor Januvia
12:32 pm on Monday, September 17, 2012
Dumb people voting = bad. Voter ID = good. We should have a basic math test as well. Can a person add our current debt to how much Obama will add if he wins. Also, if you are on public assistance, you don't get to vote. Why should bums get to vote for more free money. Rediculous.
Rob Ferguson
8:44 am on Sunday, September 16, 2012
I went to the photo I'd station last week and was pleased to see seniors getting their IDs. They were driven in by rest home vans and similar. If the law stands be proactive. Drive your neighbors to get their IF
careless fills
5:37 pm on Sunday, September 16, 2012
Clergy give marching orders to suppress the vote. Talk about sperartion of church and state!
http://news.yahoo.com/african-american-christians-waver-over-vote-120333681--election.html
Tim
6:22 pm on Sunday, September 16, 2012
Good, let's not complicate things!
Morgan King
8:08 pm on Sunday, September 16, 2012
"they are telling their flocks to stay home on Election Day."
Good - if you find you can't separate the need for creating equitable laws to govern humanity from what you assume an eternal, unknowable, omnipotent being's stance on the matter is, your voice in the vote will not missed.
Crestor Januvia
12:30 pm on Monday, September 17, 2012
In this case, it will suppress the votes of dumb democrats, so this is good. And if it was a muslim cleric saying this, Obama would endorse it.
Postman Sharp
8:29 pm on Sunday, September 16, 2012
Romney is coming unglued and we're seeing inside him. Americans don't like what they see. He's not a leader. He's not that smart. He's a little man bent on becoming president and that just isn't good enough.
Americans wanted Obama. They got him. He's not perfect. But he's not Romney. We'll have him again because Obama has BECOME a GREAT President.
Romney does not have that ability and his ego stands in the way of changing. Sorry, Mitt, you don't get my vote.
Crestor Januvia
12:16 pm on Monday, September 17, 2012
HAHAAHAHA. Obama has become a great president? HAHAHAHAAH. He hasn't gotten anything done for 2 years. The economy is in a shambles. Foreign policy is a shambles. He's an idiot.
Joseph Robert
8:43 am on Monday, September 17, 2012
Foreign Policy Achievements
President Obama:
• Killed Osama Bin Laden
• Ended Iraq War
• Killed more Al Qaeda leaders than any other President
• Supported "Arab Spring" uprising
Romney
• None
Romney: NO foreign policy experience in a very DANGEROUS world!
Crestor Januvia
12:22 pm on Monday, September 17, 2012
Dimwit.... Obama had no experience and you claim he is doing a great job, so no experience is needed.... but in reality
- Killed Osama Bin Laden - No he didn't. Seals did. Any idiot can say "Go do it". Even you.
- Ended Iraq War - Ya, and it's a total disaster over there now
- Killed more leaders - Ya, we used to capture them an get intelligence from them
- Arab Spring - A TOTAL disaster, with radical muslims taking over everywhere
In reality, Obama
- Blew $1 trillion on a stimulus to save his union buddies jobs. It did nothing to help the economy, and his union stooges lost their jobs anyway when stimulus ran out
- Economy is HORRID. 47 million on food stamps, record numbers of social security disability claims, unemployment is really 13%. Lowest number of people working in 40 years
- Foreign Policy - A muslim appeaser. World thinks we are a joke. Enemies like Iran laugh at how weak this presidunce is. Completely blew relationship with Israel. Is a closet muslim who appologizes even when they kill our people
- ObamaCare will be an abortion of a bill. Now estimated to cost TWICE what Obumma said it would
- Gas at all time high price. Shut down drilling on all federal lands. Sends money (aid) to Brazil so they will drill. Blows BILLIONS on feel good, won't work "green" energy
- Takes on Christian groups at every turn, while allowing muslim groups to do whatever they want
- Sold guns to mexicans
- Breaks law with executive orders for mexicans
Crestor Januvia
12:29 pm on Monday, September 17, 2012
- Goes to Vegas as our ambassadors are being killed, apologizes to muslims
- Has spent more time playing golf than any other president over last 2 years
- Hasn't gotten a budget pass for 3 years!!!! Not even a single vote from a democrat. Idiot.
- Has NO BUSINESS EXPERIENCE, and neither do any of his staff. That's why he blows money on energy businesses that can't work.
- Had both the house and senate his first two years, does NOTHING to fix economy, comes up with joke called Obamacare. Moron.
- Has attended more fund raisers than any other president EVER. He has not governed for 2 years, only held fund raisers. Jerk.
- Rolled his failed stimulus spending into the budget, so now we spend $1.4 Trillion a year more than we have, have $16 Trillion in debt, and no end in sight.
- Idiots idea to fix economy? Another stimulus package.... to hire teachers and fire fighters. Why? Because the private sector is doing just FINE. RETARD.
- Doesn't listen to a single recommendation from his own debt commission.
- Asks for "more time" so his plans can work, except his plans have not done a damn thing for the last 4 years. More time will only make things worse.
- Uses executive Order to hide documents about fast and furious... hey, wasn't he supposed to have the most open administration ever?
- Can't speak unless he has a teleprompter... ya, he's so smart
- Won't release school records. he applied as a muslim Kenyan student
Molly Maguire
8:38 pm on Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Crestor, FOXNews-spun commentary. About 90% of what you rant about is YOUR OPINION. You sound like an angry, rabid dog.
Joseph Robert
7:55 pm on Monday, September 17, 2012
Attention Pennsylvania Seniors on Medicare and All Others Using Government Assistance!!!
This is what Mitt Romney thinks of you and ALL OF AMERICANS dependent on government support:
“There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it. That that's an entitlement. And the government should give it to them.”
“..my job is not to worry about those people. I’ll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives”
Mitt Romney, speaking at fund-raising dinner, Spring 2012
Watch the video at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/post/mitt-romney-trashes-the-47-percent/2012/09/17/f3ef2b6e-0116-11e2-9367-4e1bafb958db_blog.html
Mitt Romney: He thinks you act like a VICTIM!
KRigger
7:43 pm on Tuesday, September 18, 2012
You are being disingenuous The 47% number is not a Romney number it is a n Obama Administration number. There is somting wrong with 47 out of every 100 people not paying taxes at all. I pay about 1500 to 2000 each year in income taxes alone. I am not rich but I pay for bums to sit on their behinds and collect. I say starvation is a motivator to go to work
Molly Maguire
8:47 pm on Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Mitt Romney, a son of privilege who used family connections and family advantages to accumulate a “vulture capitalist” fortune, and who now collects multimillion-dollar checks for doing absolutely nothing, claims to have identified 47 percent of Americans “who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it. That that’s an entitlement. And the government should give it to them.” -- John Nichols
Molly Maguire
8:51 pm on Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Continuing John Nichols:
"Mitt Romney is not a member of this class of Americans [the 47%]. As a quarter-billionaire, he is part of a multi-generational elite—the most privileged 1 percent of the 1 percent—that has never ever had to worry about making ends meet at the end of the month. But Mitt Romney has something in common with the working poor.
Like them, he benefits from federal programs that are designed to allow some Americans to avoid paying some or all of the taxes that would otherwise be due from them."
High-On-Lehigh
8:27 pm on Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Here is something strange to consider: Many of the worthless, freeloading, low-earning vermin class at the teat of the rest of us, the ones that comprise 47% (!) of the people living within our borders (how scary is THAT!!) actually pay a higher fraction of their meager earnings to the Federal Treasury than Romney himself does. It is true that they do not pay Income Tax to the US (they still may pay to PA), but between themselves and their employers, they are contributing *** 15.3 % **** of their meager earnings as Payroll Taxes to Social Security and Medicare. Romney pays something like **** 13.9% **** in federal Income Taxes (on that fraction of his wealth that is flowing in from within the borders of the US), but because of the Cap on Soc Sec contributions at around $106 K of Earned Income, and because Investment Income [--which, incidentally gets taxed at the highly favorable Capital Gains Rate, even for trillionaires-- but that's another topic] is Not Subject to Either the Social Security or Medicare tax, the percentage of his income he gives up to Payroll Tax is probably something like **** 0.1% **** -- for a grand total of **** 14 % of Romney’s earnings **** going to the US Treasury.
penllynjohn
1:13 pm on Wednesday, September 19, 2012
I do not believe the Democrat party would ever push voter ID. They are liberal which here translates into anyone goes and goes and goes and goes...
Morgan King
2:07 pm on Friday, September 21, 2012
Centrist liberals pushed for IDs throughout the 90s only be shot down by their opponents for being police state communists. As far as I can tell, there is wide bipartisan support for Voter IDs, just not ones this poorly considered and rushed into law.
High-On-Lehigh
10:06 pm on Wednesday, September 19, 2012
BS. The objection is not to voter ID, it is to springing an onerous new system for voter ID just in time to swing a presidential election.
Ike
1:52 pm on Friday, September 21, 2012
Why is alot of wackos moaning????WHY???? YOU HAVE TO HAVE ID FOR JUST ABOUT EVERYTHING! THIS AINT NO DEMO OR REP THING!! So WHY ARE THERE NUTS OUT THERE BITCHING????? TELL ME PPPLEASE
Morgan King
2:14 pm on Friday, September 21, 2012
If I didn't drive, I would never need an ID - I'm old enough not to get carded anymore for alcohol, I opened my bank account ages ago and they don't ask for it for transactions. I can't even remember the last time I needed it. Loads of people in PA don't drive and don't have bank accounts - hundreds of thousands, apparently. The nuts are bitching about it because we want everyone who is legally entitled to vote to be able to do so.
Earnest
6:01 pm on Friday, September 21, 2012
Apparently you have very little knowledge about the law. You need to do some reading especially the quotes from Republican "law makers". You also need to educate yourself on the difference between the Republican Party Requirements for voter ID dictate, and the requirements if any on the types of ID's excepted for other things. You also need to educate yourself on the ways of other peoples lives... in other words, just because you do or have what is being dictated does not mean that ALL Americans have and do the same things. One last thing you might educate yourself on is the definition of a Poll Tax. Having to shell out even one cent or be required to do something that others do not have to do, in order to exercise their right to vote is a poll tax.
Ike
3:13 pm on Friday, September 21, 2012
And all will , Get an ID ,, BANKS YOU NEED AN ID , YES YOU DO. Why nuts think you cant vote is wacko...Its not hard to get an ID ,, BET SOME OF THE NUTS WILL EVEN TAKE THOSE WHO SAY THEY CANT GO TO GET ONE ... UNREAL..... JUST LIKE THE ELECTION,,,OBAMAMA , OR MITT the goof ,, WE ALL ALL IN BIG , BIG TROUBLE!!!
GOD BLESS THE USA! AND HELP US ALL
Morgan King
3:35 pm on Friday, September 21, 2012
You know that reads as complete gibberish, right? I know internet commenting isn't exactly the height of human discourse, but that's basically unreadable. Triple commas?
High-On-Lehigh
10:01 pm on Saturday, September 22, 2012
Sarah Silverman comments on the real problem of Voter Fraud-- and what you can do about it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypRW5qoraTw
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