Justice Department investigating Pa. voter ID law

A Board of Elections volunteer watches people cast their ballots during early voting October 23, 2008 in Savannah, Georgia.

/ Stephen Morton/Getty Images

(CBS News) The Justice Department has asked the state of Pennsylvania to hand over information and databases important to determining if the state's new voter photo ID requirement is discriminatory.

Pennsylvania is one of a dozen states that have passed new laws requiring photo identification to cast a vote. The Justice Department is requiring the state to prove that the law does not violate Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which prohibits voting requirements that would disproportionately impact minorities.

In a letter sent Monday to Carol Aichele, acting secretary of the Commonwealth, the Justice Department asked the state to hand over the complete voter registration list, including voter history and race of registered voters and the current Pennsylvania driver license and ID list.

The Justice Department is also asking documents supporting Gov. Tom Corbett's March 2012 statement that "99 percent of Pennsylvania's eligible voters already have acceptable photo ID." The department also wants documentation supporting the state's assessment that 758,000 registered voters lack appropriate identification.

Republicans in Pennsylvania and in states across the country are pushing for stricter voter ID laws, saying it will prevent voter fraud. Most Democrats, meanwhile, say the laws disenfranchise voters, especially minorities who are more likely to lack a state-issued ID.

In a separate challenge brought by advocacy groups, a Pennsylvania appellate court will hear challenges to the law on Wednesday.

The Justice Department already blocked South Carolina and Texas from implementing voter ID laws. Texas is challenging the Justice Department's decision in federal court.

[marnold1966]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydEEqlTBYkY&feature=player_embedded

[paturner51]

All this could be rectified by putting Eric Holder in prison for racism.

[EmpireGeorge______--]

by actornaught July 24, 2012 9:43 PM EDT

I have never been asked for ID, never saw anyone asked for ID, and have voted regularly for several decades.
____________________

actornaught, may I ask you this.....how does the election board even know at YOUR polling place, that you aren't someone else, or voting under someone else's name ??? are you so well known in your town, is everyone, thereby negating the need for identification.

In the city 50 miles, nearby NYC, there is about 8 million people......do you really think they could have a legitimate election, if 8 million people just "claimed verbally" who they were ? with no means to know who's who, no way to identify any of the 8 million people, or whether the person already voted......so you live in a very, very bizare world yourself, and you have the nerve to say I DO ?!?!?!

[liberalmike]

This is a plot by the republican's all across th U.S. to disenfranchise voters (most not being republiCON) in order to try and help romney win.
The repunblCON/teabaggers will do ANYTHING to win!
Please lets throw them all to the curb!

[EmpireGeorge______--]

identifying yourself = disenfranchising voters

This is how insane we've become, now just asking who you are, either at the polls or at the border is met with severe resistance.

Do they actually WANT illegals voting, is this why they oppose simple identification ????

[jaykay3141]

Emperor, NOTHING in the PA rules is simple. A birth certificate isn't enough if your name changed. A student or company ID with your picture and signature isn't enough unless it has a date on it. A valid birth certificate with the right name AND date isn't valid if you're from Puerto Rico (and hey, George, they're part of the US and entitled to vote too) because PR changed its certificates in 2010 in order to - guess what - reduce suspected fraud. If you live in one of the 4 dozen or so rural counties in PA you can find yourself 50 miles from the nearest government office that issues approved documentation that will let you get an ID. And yes, the ID itself is free but the documents you need to get it aren't.

Bottom line, even the state now admits that their much-ballyhooed "1%" count of voters without ID was off by a factor of 7 or 8. And I assume you're aware that PA House Majority Leader Turzai didn't even bother to hide the law's actual intent? You can look it up.

[TimeToEvolve]

People who support the Republicon election fraud have bought into the right wing fear machine. Think about it, a non-citizen is going to rick deportations just to vote? How stupid is that? Right wingers never cease to amaze me with their wit and intellectual abilities.

[jaykay3141]

Fear has always been the cudgel of the far right. Secular humanists out to take over the educational system. Gays waiting behind trees to seduce teenagers. Communists controlling Hollywood. And let's not forget Bolsheviks burning the Reichstag...

[tsigili]

The justice department has become so subversive, they are taking away all of the checks and balances the founding fathers put into our constitution.

[jaykay3141]

And where in the Constitution is there a requirement that citizens must present official, dated government ID cards in order to vote?

Sounds a bit like "Papers please! If you haff nozzing to hide everysing vill be OK. If not, ve haff vays uff dealing viss you!"

[EmpireGeorge______--]

Just stop for a moment and realize what is going on here.

Pennsylvania is attempting to prevent non-citizens from voting, or to stop duplicate votes.

The Obama administration SUES and Investigates them.......so who does he stand for ? the citizen who votes legitimately ? or the illegal alien, the dead voters, the multiple votes, fraud......why is he puposely blocking attempts at getting rid of fraud ???!?!?! is he actually IN FAVOR of the fraud ??? seems so

[jaykay3141]

So far Pennsylvania has demonstrated exactly ONE case of fraud that would have been prevented, while their own figures show anywhere from 500,000 to almost a million voters will not have acceptable IDs.

[EmpireGeorge______--]

If you are a Citizen, read this.

Many people aren't aware that Obama and Acorn sued the government to implement motor voter cards, which ask for no proof of citizenship, except check a box, I swear I am.....and when a State tries to clean up the voter roles of non-citizens, they get sued immediately by Obama and Holder.....like Florida, and now Pennsylvania.......Obama's administration is now actually on record as being AGAINST properly identifying citizens.....so the days of Acorn buying an election are over.

Here is an example of the voter cards, that an Illegal can just check the box, "yeah, sure I am".....and then vote.

http://maine.gov/sos/cec/elec/images/1regcard.jpg

[TimeToEvolve]

This is the real election problem in America: election fraud by Republicon officials in red and swing states. This is EXACTLY why they are hysterical about the non-existent voter fraud. You can read these lying, cheating Republicons like a dime store novel.

[EmpireGeorge______--]

You again have it ass-backwards......it is fraud by the democrats, voting by illegals, multiple voting, dead people voting......and what happens the moment these states try to cut this fraud, they get sued by Obama......he needs these illegal votes if he has any hopes of winning.

So, sorry that we are asking for people to identify who they are.....if asking for ID means fraud to you, then YOU are the problem, not us

[Larnan5]

Why waste words. These voter ID laws are intended to prevent the the re-election of the first black president in U.S. history. If Obama was a white man this issue would not being discussed Any other reasons given are pure baloney!

[TimeToEvolve]

This is the reason the Republicon white wing wackos in Congress were going after Holder with the Fast and Furious hysteria. Because he was investigating Republicon election fraud.