Thread: Judge Won't Block Pennsylvania Voter-ID Law

HARRISBURG, Pa.—A Pennsylvania judge on Wednesday refused to stop a tough new voter-identification law from taking effect, which Democrats say will suppress votes among President Barack Obama's supporters.
Commonwealth Court Judge Robert Simpson said he wouldn't grant an injunction that would have halted the law requiring each voter to show a valid photo ID. Opponents are expected to file an appeal within a day or two to the state Supreme Court as the Nov. 6 presidential election approaches.
The Republican-penned law—which passed over the objections of Democrats—has ignited a debate over voting rights as Pennsylvania is poised to play a key role in deciding the presidential contest in November. Opponents had asked Judge Simpson to block the law from taking effect in this year's election as part of a wider challenge to its constitutionality.
Republicans defend the law as necessary to protect the integrity of the election. But Democrats say the measure will make it harder for the elderly, minorities, the poor and college students to vote, as part of a partisan scheme to help Republican challenger Mitt Romney beat Mr. Obama.
"We're not done, it's not over," said Witold J. Walczak, an American Civil Liberties Union lawyer who helped argue the case for the plaintiffs. "It's why they make appeals courts."
Judge Simpson didn't rule on the full merits of the case, only whether to grant a preliminary injunction stopping it from taking effect.
Votes by four of six Supreme Court justices would be needed to overturn the ruling by Judge Simpson, who is a Republican. But the high court is currently split between three Republicans and three Democrats following the recent suspension of Justice Joan Orie Melvin, a Republican who is fighting criminal corruption charges.
The original rationale in Pennsylvania's Republican-controlled Legislature for the law—to prevent election fraud—played little role in the case before Judge Simpson, since the state's lawyers acknowledged that they are "not aware of any incidents of in person voter fraud." Instead, they said lawmakers properly exercised their latitude to make election-related laws when they chose to require voters to show widely available forms of photo identification.
Republican Gov. Tom Corbett signed the law in March after every Democratic lawmaker voted against it.
At issue is the requirement that all Pennsylvania voters produce a valid photo ID before their ballot can be counted, a substantial change from the law it was designed to replace. That law required identification only for people voting in a polling place for the first time, and it allowed nonphoto documents such as a utility bill or bank statement.
But some people who sued over the law say they will be unable to vote because they lack the necessary documents, including a birth certificate, to get a state photo ID, the most widely available of the IDs valid under the law.
The lawyers who provided free legal representation to the plaintiffs also said it will be difficult for many others to get a valid ID, and they presented testimony about workers at Department of Transportation license centers who appeared uninformed about the requirement to issue free nondrivers IDs for voting.
In addition, some voters won't know about the law until they get to the polls, and long waits will result while untrained election workers struggle to carry out a complicated and unnecessary law amid the traditionally larger turnout in presidential elections, they argued.
Lawyers from the attorney general's office, which defended the law, pointed out that the state is planning to begin issuing a special photo-ID card for registered voters who are unable to get a PennDOT-issued ID and lack any other photo ID that is acceptable under the law, such as a passport or active-duty military ID.
In addition, they say the state is rolling out a public-relations campaign to make people aware of the law.
The Department of State, which oversees elections in Pennsylvania, hasn't produced any kind of study or survey that estimates the number of people without a valid photo ID.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Justice is looking at whether the Pennsylvania law complies with federal laws and on Monday asked the state's top election official and a chief supporter of the law for information about it.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...googlenews_wsj

But some people who sued over the law say they will be unable to vote because they lack the necessary documents, including a birth certificate, to get a state photo ID, the most widely available of the IDs valid under the law.

Those foreign birth certificates don't work very well for state IDs. JMO

A judge with common sense and upholds the law? Refreshing!

Aug 16, 6:08 PM EDT


Challengers of Pa. voter photo ID law file appeal
By MARC LEVY
Associated Press

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) -- Strategies will shift as the first court battle over Pennsylvania's new law requiring voters to show valid photo identification heads to the state Supreme Court, while other legal hurdles could surface and political campaigns lumber toward the November election.

The law's Republican backers and, they say, the integrity of the Nov. 6 presidential election were the winners of Wednesday's decision by a state appellate judge to reject an injunction that would have halted the law from taking effect in November, as part of a wider challenge to its constitutionality.

About a dozen rights groups and registered voters filed an appeal Thursday. Democrats say the law will trample the right to vote for countless people in an echo of the now-unconstitutional poll taxes and literacy tests once designed to discriminate against poor and minority voters.

The GOP-penned law, signed by Republican Gov. Tom Corbett in March and opposed by every Democratic lawmaker, has ignited a furious debate over voting rights in Pennsylvania, which is poised to play a starring role in deciding the presidential contest.

Lawyers are asking the state's highest court for a speedy review of the appeal, requesting that oral arguments be scheduled during the court's session in Philadelphia the week of Sept. 10.

At the state Supreme Court, votes by four justices would be needed to overturn Commonwealth Court Judge Robert Simpson's ruling. The high court is currently split between three Republicans and three Democrats following the recent suspension of Justice Joan Orie Melvin, a Republican who is fighting criminal corruption charges.

A key focus on appeal is likely to be Simpson's decision to give strong deference to the government, rather than put a heavier legal burden on it to justify a law that opponents say infringes on a constitutional right.

"I don't know of any other state court that has ruled on photo ID that has applied such a low standard, that has protected the right to vote so little," said Penda Hair, co-director of Advancement Project, a Washington, D.C.-based group that helped challenge the law.

In his 70-page opinion, Simpson said the federal courts and most state courts give the same kind of deference to the government when considering voter identification cases. But lawyers for the plaintiffs suggest that Pennsylvania's state constitution goes further than many of those state constitutions in extending protections to voting rights.

Simpson, a Republican, didn't rule on the full merits of the case, only whether to grant a preliminary injunction stopping it from taking effect. But he rejected the suit's claim that the law is unconstitutional and ruled that the challenge did not meet the stiff requirements to win an injunction.

Democrats say the law is a thinly veiled attempt to help the Republican presidential challenger, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, beat President Barack Obama, a Democrat. Republicans, who for years have harbored suspicions of ballot-box stuffing in the Democratic bastion of Philadelphia, say the law is a commonsense measure.

Republicans lauded Simpson's decision, while Democrats blasted it, and both parties sent out fundraising appeals spinning off Simpson's decision. Meanwhile, the Obama campaign had a lower-profile response, saying it would continue its efforts to register voters and educate them about the law, and it urged the state to follow through on its plan to make available free photo IDs to any registered voter who needs one.

State elections officials have until the middle of next week to supply information to the U.S. Department of Justice, which is looking at Pennsylvania's law and has moved to block voter ID laws in other states. Another lawsuit is pending from the state's second-most populous county, Allegheny County.

AP News : Gazette.com