Business & Tech

Poll: Voter ID Ruling Upheld, What do you Think?

Upper Saucon Patch asks, what do you think about the voter ID ruling?

UPDATE: Reactions pour in from legislators, committee chairs about voter ID decision

Sen. Bob Mensch (R-24): "I really expected that it would be upheld. The other side was trying to use the courts to legislate. From everything I’ve seen from the polls and data more than 75 percent of the people in the state approve of Voter ID, he said. "Voter ID will simplify all the issues, I really believe that. Particularly when we use ID for so many other things in our lives.”

Rep. Justin Simmons (R-131): No official comment at press time, however Simmons wrote an Op-Ed in March 2012 about the Voter ID law and his support. "This important piece of legislation ensures that one person equals one vote, which is the foundation of our republic.  I supported it wholeheartedly."

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Rick Daugherty, chair of the Lehigh County Democratic Committee and Democratic candidate for the 15th Congressional District seat: “My hope is that the state will make it easier to get Voter ID now that it will be required in November; specifically, if they can develop mobile Voter ID verification units that would allow people to get valid photo IDs and then to be able to have them at senior centers, health fairs, supermarkets, libraries and anywhere else that people gather."

Wayne Woodman, chair of the Lehigh County Republican Committee: "I’m delighted that Judge Simpson upheld the Voter ID law. I think it provides a protection of the franchise, and it is certainly a law that does not provide an undue burden on average folks who have to provide identification for many aspects of their lives every day, whether they're going to the doctor or picking up a prescription at the pharmacy or proving who they are when they present their credit cards. These are things that are done multiple times a day by virtually everyone."

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Alan Jennings, executive director of the Community Action Committee of the Lehigh Valley: "[This is] learly a deliberate effort to disempower certain voters on behalf of other voters. This is a blantant effort as sinister as it is cynical to take away the most fundamental right we have as Americans,” Jennings said. Unless the judge doesn’t understand the day-to-day travails of average people, it’s unimaginable that he could have come to that decision. It’s the kind of thing that has led so many people to give up their faith in our democracy or the notion that they have any say in their government,” 

 

Commonwealth Court ruled Wednesday morning not to stop Pennsylvania's controversial new from going into effect.

will not 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 fast approaches, according to the Associated Press.

The challenge to the law was brought by voter advocacy groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union and the NAACP.

Pennsylvania passed a law in March requiring all registered voters to show a  before voting. This is one of the strictest voter ID laws in the nation. 

Opponents of the law say it disproportionately targets the elderly as well as the poor and minorities, who typically vote Democrat. Furthermore, critics say that the burden of obtaining an acceptable ID for these people would keep them from voting.They add that preventing  (the supposed purpose of the law) is not a serious concern.

Thirty states have some sort of Voter ID law, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Of those, 19 do not require a photo, six require a photo and five, including Pennsylvania, have strict photo requirements.


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