Changes address concerns over students, elderly being unable to get IDs
By Eric Boehm | PA Independent
HARRISBURG — Changes made to a proposal that would require all voters to show photo identification at their polling place are intended to address concerns about potentially disenfranchising some legitimate voters.
An amendment added to the House-passed voter ID bill by the Senate State Government Committee on Monday would allow voters to use IDs issued by colleges and nursing homes in addition to official state IDs, such as drivers’ licenses.
In addition, absentee voters would be required to include their drivers’ license or Social Security number on the form for their absentee ballot.
Another change would allow voters without a valid ID to cast a provisional ballot that would become official if they supply a valid ID — via mail, fax or in person — to their county election officials within six days of the election.
“This is a balancing act. We’re not trying to disenfranchise anyone, but at the same time we do not want our system of underlying democracy to be manipulated in any way,” said state Sen. Charles McIllhinney, R-Bucks, chairman of the committee.
Democrats and other opponents of the voter ID proposal said the bill put voting rights at risk, particularly for the elderly and minorities.
State Sen. Anthony Williams, D-Philadelphia, said there is no crisis of fraudulent voting for the bill to address and suggested that if a problem existed, the Attorney General's Office should investigate it before legislation is passed.
“To say that it is a crisis and that the house is on fire, that should require someone to show us that the house is on fire,” Williams said. “I’m very concerned about putting restrictions on one’s ability to vote.”
Democrats supported the amendment to the voter ID bill, but opposed the bill when it was passed out of the committee.
McIllhinney said Gov. Tom Corbett is pushing the bill, but his intention was to soften some of the requirements to avoid disenfranchising legitimate voters, while maintaining the “security check” of the original bill.
The amendment approved Monday also would allow voters to use drivers’ licenses that have been expired for less than a full year.
The state House passed the original bill in October.
Andy Hoover, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, said the changes made Monday were “marginal” and would not help other senior citizens who did not live in nursing homes but still lacked proper identification because they no longer drive.
He said minorities particularly would be victimized, because higher percentages of minorities do not possess a photo ID when compared with the population as a whole.
“The bottom line is that this will prevent some people who are legally allowed to vote from doing so,” Hoover said.
The legislation would allow anyone who does not have state-issued ID to obtain one free from the state Department of Transportation.
“Anyone can and will get a free ID, so we’re not going to disenfranchise anyone in the state,” McIllhinney said.
The cost of those IDs, which will be paid for through federal dollars provided to the state through the Help America Vote Act that funds state-level voting initiatives, will be determined by the Senate Appropriations Committee before the bill receives a final vote.
In a news release, the Pennsylvania ACLU said states with similar vote ID laws have spent millions in taxpayer dollars to implement them.
Missouri estimated that a proposed voter ID law would cost $6 million in the first year and $4 million annually thereafter, and states with these laws increase their spending on elections by as much as 50 percent.
McIllhinney predicted “general support” among Senate Republicans for the measure and said House GOP leaders and Corbett had agreed to the changes made by his amendment.
State Sen. Mike Folmer, R-Lebanon, supported the bill, though he said he had reservations about the “Big Brother” nature of the proposal.
“With every right and every privilege comes a responsibility,” Folmer said. “I’ve scoured through the (state) constitution and I really can’t see to forbid that we require you to show that you’re an actual citizen of the United States.”
The bill was approved by a vote of 6-5 in the Senate State Government Committee on Monday and will be sent to the floor for further consideration. The four Democrats on the committee were joined by state Sen. Jake Corman, R-Centre, in opposing the measure.
Corman said afterward that he has seen no evidence that the current system needs to be changed.
Corman's opposition could complicate the bill’s future, because he is chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee.
McIllhinney said the Senate is likely to take up the bill in January. He said the goal is to have the bill passed into law by the end of January, so election officials have enough time to learn about the new rules before the state’s primary election in April.
If approved, the new law will have a “soft rollout” in the primary election. Voters will be asked to show their ID. If they do not have one, they still can vote. Poll workers will remind all voters that an ID will be necessary to vote in November’s general election.
