Voter ID Case Goes to PA Supreme Court
A local group plans to present petitions on Thursday in downtown Pittsburgh calling on Allegheny County election officials not to enforce the new voter ID law this November.
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Opponents of Pennsylvania's new voter ID will make their case Thursday before the state Supreme Court.
There's no time-frame for a ruling from the court—but the Nov. 6 General Election is fast approaching. Oct. 9 is the last day to register to vote.
The Supreme Court is composed of three Republican and three Democratic justices (a seventh judge was suspended while she faces criminal charges). A 3-3 tie would affirm the decision of the lower court, according to a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette report.
Commonwealth Court upheld the law in August.
Supporters say the law will prevent voter fraud and imposes the same photo ID standard required in many common circumstances.
Challengers say the law is designed to disenfranchise poor and elderly voters who often support Democratic candidates. They cite as evidence state Rep. Mike Turzai's declaration that the law will allow Mitt Romney to win Pennsylvania.
A key question in the Supreme Court case will be how strictly courts should scrutinize voting rules, according to a Philadelphia Inquirer report.
Also Thursday, a local group will present Just Say No petitions to Allegheny County election officials again. There are more than 15,000 signatures statewide and more than 4,000 from Allegheny County.
The group, led by Steven Singer, who started a SignOn.org petition, will meet at the Allegheny County Court House along Forbes Avenue in downtown Pittsburgh at 4 p.m. Shortly after, they'll march a block down to the election offices and deliver the petitions.
The group will hold a press conference, joined by Pennsylvania Interfaith Impact Network, community members and politicians. To attend, RSVP by clicking here.
Voters can now get a free photo ID at PennDOT driver's license centers so they can comply with the law. As of Friday, PennDOT had issued 7,226 IDs for voting purposes.
A few weeks ago, a federal three-judge panel ruled that a similar voter-ID law in Texas discriminates against poor and minority voters. In a "friend of the court" brief filed against the Pennsylvania law, a group of law professors argued that federal courts have struck down less stringent laws in three other states, Missouri, Georgia and Wisconsin, according to this editorial.
What is your take on Pennsylvania's new voter ID law?
bob balmer
7:51 am on Thursday, September 13, 2012
Our voting system is the gold standard for the rest of the world. Any act that will make it harder to vote for anybody diminishes the system.
USC Resident
8:12 am on Thursday, September 13, 2012
A man with some wise words! Way to go BOB!
Jay Bahr
8:47 am on Thursday, September 13, 2012
That is ridiculous! You need ID to pick up concert tickets at a will-call window, cash a check, get a library card and get into the DNC convention last week. If the only criteria being used is that voter ID is not required because of lack of evidence of rampant voter fraud – then I guess stop lights are not needed until people are hurt and killed at an intersection. It is not a logical argument. Voting is an important part of living in a democracy – what is the problem of having a little common sense to protect that?
bob balmer
3:25 pm on Thursday, September 13, 2012
when we try to get other countries to become democracies like ours we tell them that like us you have to have open and free elections. when you put any roadblock to that end it gets tarnished. By rejecting voter id laws you protect the vote. there is your common sense.
frank jay walters
9:02 am on Thursday, September 13, 2012
Too bad our votes don't even mean anything anyways. At this point were just voting for the lesser of two evils, who are just puppets for the greater evil that is the United Corporations of America. Wake up people!
Maria Miller
1:05 pm on Thursday, September 13, 2012
Voter suppression is un American!
Jason Bahr
1:21 pm on Thursday, September 13, 2012
I am certain that you live in a cave, grow your own food, ride a horse to work, read by gas lamps, make your own clothes, hunt for meat, grow cotton and have a loom in your basement to make cloth that you sew into clothing. Romney would be 1 million times a better leader for the US than Obama! Go see 2016 – the guy hates America. Please.
True believer
7:52 pm on Thursday, September 13, 2012
I'll tell you right now WHO the 2016 ticket wil be! Excuse me the WINNERS of the 2016 election will be Hillary and Michelle. YOU go GIRLS!
frank jay walters
4:52 pm on Thursday, September 13, 2012
I live in the forest actually. You don't have to believe me, but come 2016 it wont matter who's the president because they ALL have the same agenda. Do you have any idea what's in the water you drink? Or the food you eat? Do you know why our public schools brainwash our children into mindless consumers? Of course not! Your too busy panicking over one uncovered tumor on the cancer that is modern America. The democracy our ancestors died for has been raped by bogus political campaigns and greedy world-consuming corporations. The best part is every single one of us buys right into it. And somehow the man in the cave who lives a self-sufficient life is the fool?
Postman Sharp
8:31 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.
Jason Bahr
9:56 pm on Sunday, September 16, 2012
Holy cow - you guys are living on Fantasy Island. Hello - Tattoo . . . Mr. Roarke . . . is that you guys responding to all these emails???? There is a great rant in the Patch today talking about false adversiting - perhaps that pertains to the current regime squating in the White House??