Good news for PA voters re obtaining voter ID - another change!

[Ms. Toad]

"To obtain a card, a person only has to show up at a PennDOT motor license center, give their name, date of birth and Social Security number.

The state is no longer requiring proof of residency. Once the person is confirmed as a registered voter, the ID will be issued, PennDOT Deputy Secretary Kurt Myers testified this morning."

http://blogs.mcall.com/capitol_ideas/2012/09/official-state-again-easing-requirements-to-get-voterid.html

New guidelines available here: http://www.dmv.state.pa.us/voter/voteridlaw.shtml below the second headline

[HERVEPA]

1. No doubt they're trying to influence the upcoming court ruling.

[Ms. Toad]

3. The testimony quoted was part of the court hearing -

but regardless of the motive, it removes a huge barrier to obtaining photo IDs for this election. I was skeptical that it would actually be enacted, but the PennDOT website has already been changed.

I still think Voter ID laws were enacted with evil intents, and should be abolished. But since there is no guarantee they will be abolished, making it possible for virtually everyone to obtain one by removing the documentation requirement is still extraordinarily good news. There is already a well organized drive underway to help people meet the much more stringent requirements - this will make it that much easier.

[awake]

2. are the Repuks going to bus in voters

from other states and get voter id's? Something does not smell right about this turn of events.

[Ms. Toad]

5. They would have to be already registered

or have an address at which they could receive the voter ID by mail. (If they are not yet registered, or registration cannot be confirmed, the voter ID has to be sent by mail to the address where they register (or are already registered but which cannot immediately be confirmed))

If they are just trolling voter registration for unlikely voters (dead, haven't voted in the last number of elections, etc.), they would still need to know the social security number of the person they intend to impersonate.

Both of those work against any effort to bus in voters to get fake IDs.

(And if the law was abolished, and no voter ID required, they would be able to do that anyway...)

[Hutzpa]

4. Wonderful

[Dawson Leery]

6. Why is the GOP giving in?

Something is not right here.

[Ms. Toad]

7. I suspect they are trying to keep the law on the books

and tinker with it later. The loophole for students and nursing homes is pretty large - so the law, as written, is almost as useless for their purposes as the prior law, which allowed a utility bill to serve as an ID.

The big publicity about the law might have educated enough people that it might be harder to pass a brand new law next time, if it is wiped off the books. Easier to tinker with an existing law to add a restriction on who can use a student/nursing home ID, than to start from scratch - and once the loopholes are closed then they can enforce it the way they intended it to be enforced.

[hrmjustin]

8. the court will likely put the law on hold for this election because there is not...

... time for people to get their ID.

[PA Democrat]

9. How many more desperate last minute changes will Corbett's clowns make

in an attempt to keep the law? How are voters expected to keep up with the constantly changing requirements? Any law that creates this much confusion and chaos needs to be overturned.

[surrealAmerican]

10. This is an improvement, but still ought not be allowed.

Voters who presumably don't drive are still being required to get to a "PennDOT motor license center". That's still a needless barrier for voters with limited transportation options.

[Ms. Toad]

11. I'm not arguing that it should be allowed -

just that this is a major improvement. Non-existent documentation is an insurmountable barrier. A ride to the license center is not (given the number of people committed to helping everyone who wants an ID get one).

[wildeyed]

12. Still totally unacceptable.

In NC that is all you need to do to get registered. Name, current address, DOB and SS number. Why add another layer of complexity to the whole process other than to make the process more onerous for certain people? And they can't even pretend that this is more secure than the other way since it is the same. Assholes.

[BattyDem]

13. They still have to get to a PennDOT office ...

and they still have to sit there for hours, which means working people will lose pay. The elderly or the disabled may not be able to get transportation or to sit there all that time.

Are they increasing the hours at PennDOT to make it easier for people to get there? Will they be adding staff to accommodate an additional 700,000+ people over the next month?

They've reduced the requirements so much that the card is nothing but a formality. It serves no real purpose in preventing fraud. People can give that same information at the polling place when they vote, so why do they have to make a special trip to PennDOT? Once again ... the ONLY reason for doing this at all is to prevent certain people from voting!

[Ms. Toad]

14. From the article linked to

"To accommodate demand for cards, the agency has extended its operating hours, he added."

I'm not arguing that the law serves any purpose. I don't think it does - BUT if the law remains on the books, this change removes the absolute barrier from the path of people without and ID (the documentation previously required to obtain a voter ID card which some people could not get because it doesn't exist, and which for many more would have cost a fortune in time and/or fees to obtain). Yes, the relative barrier still exists (time off from work, getting to an ID issuing location).

Anyone who has given up on getting an ID in PA needs to know that it may now be possible - so rather than focusing on the fact that there is an unnecessary law (which people are still fighting), how about helping get the word out to the people who have given up because they previously had no chance at all to get the documentation necessary to get an ID.