Judge signals Pa. voter ID law may be blocked
Kathryn Whitecotton covers her personal information as she shows her Pennsylvania driver's license and her address update card outside the PennDOT Driver's License Center in Butler, Pa., Sept. 26, 2012. / AP Photo
Updated at 10:11 a.m. ET
(CBS News) A hearing on Pennsylvania's strict Voter ID law resumes Thursday in Harrisburg after the judge gave a strong indication on Tuesday that he may block at least part of the law.
"I'm giving you a heads-up," Commonwealth Court Judge Robert Simpson told lawyers in the case. "I think it is a possibility that there could be an injunction here."
He asked lawyers to prepare arguments for Thursday not on whether he should grant an injunction, but on what kind of injunction he should impose. Lawyers had a day to prepare their argument because court did not meet on Wednesday.
Thursday, the plaintiffs are expected to present a dozen witnesses who will describe significant difficulties they encountered while trying to obtain the kind of ID required to vote. But there will be no final ruling Thursday as Simpson gave lawyers until 4:30 p.m. Friday to submit additional filings. He must issue an opinion on or before October 2, next Tuesday, just 35 days before Election Day.
If Simpson finds that voters are unable to easily obtain required IDs or if some voters will be disenfranchised by the ID requirement, he must block the law from taking effect before the November's elections per an order from the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
The voter ID law was signed into law by Republican Gov. Tom Corbett in March; the law generally requires voters to present a photo identification card in order to cast a ballot. Pennsylvania is one of 10 states that have passed ID laws in the past two years.
Opponents argue the law could create "a very large problem" for as many as half a million voters in Pennsylvania. They argue that a disproportionate number of those impacted would be racial minorities, the elderly and other vulnerable groups.
"We know there was a strategic and targeted move behind the passing of this law ... this law was passed because someone wants to control an election," said John Jordan, Director for Civic Engagement for the Pennsylvania NAACP.
In court on Tuesday, lawyers for the plaintiffs grilled Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) officials on a litany of issues voters have encountered when trying to obtain an ID.
PennDOT Deputy Secretary Kurt Myers testified that PennDOT has, "Reacted to [these] concerns by making changes."
Changes include easing restrictions on a Department of State voter ID, just hours before Tuesday's hearing.
At Tuesday's hearing, PennDOT announced that voters could now apply for a voting-only ID without first having to apply for a Pennsylvania non-driver ID, which has more stringent application process. Voters will also no longer have to show proof of residence.
"We're in the business of issuing IDs, not denying IDs," Myers told the court.
But some see the state's last minute measure to make it easier to get an ID as a ploy to deter the judge from issuing an injunction.
"All of this is because of the pressure that is on [them] and to make sure that the judge does not overturn this thing," according to Jordan.
Simpson previously declined to issue a preliminary injunction against the law back in August. In that opinion, Judge Simpson wrote that opponents of the voter ID law "did an excellent job of 'putting a face' to those burdened by this new requirement," but he does not "have the luxury of deciding this issue based on my sympathy for the witnesses."
Opponents of the law appealed his decision to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. After hearing arguments from both sides, the Supreme Court returned the case to Judge Simpson and ordered him assess the availability of ID cards in light of "expedited" efforts put forth by the Pennsylvania government.
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He does not have an ID card and doesn't need one. That is because he doesn't have a checking account, will never take a plane ride, doesn't have a checking or credit card account, will never buy a car or house, will never have a job, and has automatic verification of identity by nursing home when he needs medical care. He has, however, registered by mail to vote and does vote by absentee ballot.
But it is virtually impossible for him to get an ID card to vote. To get that card, he'd have to hire a wheelchair accessible Medi-car at $175 to drive him to and from the Dept of Motor Vehicles and spend his entire month's income to pay the $25 ID card fee. So, he'd have to save his spending money --- not buy any clothing, toiletries, or incidentals --- for 8 months to pay the $200 to get a card just so he can continue to vote.
My brother and the many millions like him can at least still vote assuming the Republicans don't take that right away from them. And the Republicans want you to think they understand and care about the poor. Phooey.
When it comes down to it there are federal laws that require states to maintain accurate voting rolls and to purge the rolls as required. In many cases the states have failed at that basic task and when a states attempts to clean up the rolls as dictated by the federal law they are stonewalled by this administration and the justice department. When the justice department lost the case against Florida it opened the books for them to check the legal status of all individuals in the state.
As far as PA I think they took it a little to far to have a separate voting ID when in fact all a citizen needs to do is to show an approved ID, such as a passport, military ID, Drivers license etc... instead of going with a photo voting ID card so they need to re-write the law. This does not exclude the fact that all states should and must purge the voting rolls as outlined by the federal laws and even if it is spot checking voter IDs the integrity of the voting system is at stake. I give you one example, a Maryland congressional candidate drops from the race because she voted in FL and MD in the same year and multiple times throughout the past few years. This is a federal crime and she should be going to jail right now but she has yet to be arrested or even charged that I know of.
Tell you what if that is what you think look up the net worth of Al Gore when he left office and his net worth today. Research how he made his millions.
Look up any of the democratic millionaires and see how they made their money to include Warren Buffet then figure out how many jobs they sent overseas like GE has. Research how much the Clinton's have invested in Haiti, the ports and clothing factories there.
Always remember the decline for the middle class has been going on for decades but it exploded in the 1990's after NAFTA was signed and Clinton then signed on to having China a premiere trading partner.
she has voted 92 straight years since women were permitted to vote.
she has NO voter voter ID. the nearest is 35 miles away & there is no way she can travel that far & wait in line for 2 TO 2 hours.
i din't know what to do. this may be the first year she hasn't been able to vote. she just received her absentee ballot.
jim collins; Son
(14th Amendment, 1868)
(15th Amendment, 1870)
(19th Amendment, 1920)
(23rd Amendment, 1961)
(24th Amendment, 1964)
(26th Amendment, 1971).
So, can we go from polling place to polling place, all day, and vote? ***?