The Pennsylvania ACLU, the Advancement Project ET AL sued
the state to block implementation of the new law. The voting rights groups
argue that the law will disenfranchise as many as one million Pennsylvania
voters in this year’s presidential election. Those most impacted by the law
will be the low income, minorities, senior citizens and college students,
opponents of the law claim. Pennsylvania ACLU and Advancement Project Attorneys are asserting
that the new voter ID law violates the Pennsylvania
Constitution which reads in part: “Elections shall be free and equal.” The
voting rights organizations contends that if some voters cannot afford to purchase the
kinds of identification that the law stipulates then their right to vote will be infringed
upon.
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett's Rick Perry moment. Youtube Video
In their pre-trial filings to the legal challenge attorneys
defending the law also advised that they “are not aware of any instances of
in-person voter fraud in Pennsylvania” and informed the court that they, “will
not offer evidence of in-person voter fraud in Pennsylvania or elsewhere.” At a
press conference on Wednesday, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett suffered a Rick
Perry moment when, in response to a reporter’s question, he could not name all
of the forms of acceptable identification the voter ID bill that he signed into
law mandates.Why the zeal for voter ID laws when proponents can’t provide evidence that fraud is talking place? Perhaps the real motivations behind the voter ID push can be found in a piece of video tape. In the video a PA legislator, Republican Mike Tauzai, tells an audience that the state’s new voter ID law “will help Mitt Romney win the White House,” click here for video. Attorney Judith Browne-Dianis of the Advancement Project referred to the video as, “The smoking gun evidence of voter suppression.”
Voter ID bills that were introduced and signed into law since 2010 are transparent in their design to disenfranchise certain voters for the partisan advantage of one political party, the GOP.
Presenting valid identification at the polling place before voting seems, on the surface, plain enough. But consider this, nearly every incarnation of voter ID bills that have been introduced since 2010 mid-term elections have several communalities:
1. Since 2010 voter ID bills have been introduced by Republican state legislators - almost exclusively and when passed, signed into law by GOP governors - exclusively.
2. Voter ID laws place a financial burden (a poll tax) on low income voters, minorities, senior citizens and college students - groups that typically vote Democratic and are expected to vote overwhelmingly for the reelection of President Obama and for Democratic candidates running for office this November. 3. Voter ID bills/laws introduced in 2010 do not grandfather in, IE exempt, senior citizens who have issues of mobility and therefore do not have a current driver license or passport. Many also may not have a birth certificate. 4. The new laws take effect immediately instead of two-four years later. This unnecessary immediacy denies election officials enough time to prepare and deprives voters of enough time to acquire the necessary identification as stipulated. 5. In every instance proponents claim that the laws are necessary to protect the integrity of the voting process and yet, the proponents of voter ID laws are unable to present a scintilla of evidence that voter fraud is taking place.
by Brent Scott
Executive Director of Vote by Mail America
