Voter ID

SUMMARY 

Who is affected most by this law?  Minorities, Seniors and Students.

How will it affect this people?  A complicated process, the law keeps changing and it is costly (bus fare, gas, time off work, and the Voter ID)

What is needed?  Better Public Education, Extended PennDot DMV hours and additional PennDot DMV staff.

BACKGROUND

The Obama Administration's Department of Justice (DOJ) had undertaken an investigation of the new voter ID law in Pennsylvania.
This investigation is based upon Section Two of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, rather than upon the more frequently-cited Section Five.  The latter applies only to six southern states; the former applies to all 50.  Section Two of the Voting Rights Act is the principal federal protection against any “voting standard, practice, or procedure that results in a denial or abridgment of the right to vote on account of race or color, or membership in a language minority group.”  The DOJ has this premise at the center of its investigation of the PA law itself, and of the Commonwealth's efforts to educate the public on the new law.
 

What's needed under the new law to get an alternative voter ID is complicated and possibly costly, especially for those in minority communities.
It's been estimated that 70% of the approximate 758,000 already-registered Pennsylvania voters whom the law might disenfranchise are in the Philadelphia and Pittsburgh metropolitan areas.
Recent estimates by the Brennan Center for Justice are that about 80% of those needing an alternative ID live 10 or more miles from a Driver's License Center.  With gasoline (even for someone helping by giving them a ride) at $3.50 or so a gallon, that could mean $5 or $6 for a 20-mile round trip.  Add to that the possible cost of things like obtaining a duplicate birth certificate (one of the items of documentation required to get a voter ID) - $10 or more if one counts postage – and something analogous to a poll tax takes shape.
Further, the attorneys defending the state's case in Commonwealth Court affirmed in writing on Tuesday, July 24th that there had been no cases of voter fraud in PA, and that none were known even in surrounding states.
The straw that might break the camel's back, though, lies in the inefficiency of staff at Driver's License centers.  The folks tasked with actually creating alternative voter IDs have been inconsistent in carrying out their new responsibilities.
Recently, an educator who took students from the Chester-Upland School District to register to vote recounted her experiences with Driver's License Center personnel.
I made 2 trips to Penn Dot to learn what items were needed for 18 yr olds to have photos taken that can be used when voting . I was given different answers each time.

To accommodate the number of students I would bring, the supervisor at Penn Dot suggested that 1/2 of the students would take photos while 1/2 would register to vote and then switch. We had a plan. He was assuring that they would do their best to take care of us.

I returned to and checked the hours of operation printed on the window at Penn Dot after students had said Penn Dot was closed on Mondays. The sign had hours of operation for photos on Mondays. The sign did not indicate that we could not be serviced on Mondays for photos for voting purposes.

On Monday, June 11, we went for photos.  But only photos for drivers were being serviced. The personnel we needed to service us for voter photo IDs were not there. Those Penn Dot persons do not work on Mondays, so we were turned away.

If the Penn Dot Supervisor with whom I spoke had informed me that they did not work on Mondays for what I needed, I would have scheduled a different day.
As this individual went on to conclude, all of the details for how to acquire the appropriate ID for voting need to be made crystal clear not only to the public but to administrators in PennDot.
This is particularly true when one considers that it's uncertain whether the DOJ investigation or the case against the voter ID law currently pending in Commonwealth Court will be decided in sufficient time to aid the 758,000.

Paid for by Concord-Bethel Democratic Committee