Pennsylvania voter ID law put on hold

A Pennsylvania judge has delayed full implementation of a highly contested state law requiring strict photographic identification to vote in next month’s election, saying that authorities had not done enough to ensure that potential voters had access to the new documents. The judge, Robert Simpson, who upheld the law in August when it was challenged by liberal and civil rights groups, was instructed by the state’s Supreme Court two weeks ago to hold further hearings. He was told to focus on the question of whether enough had been done to ensure “liberal access” to the picture ID cards or alternatives.

Simpson said in his ruling on Tuesday that for the presidential election Nov. 6, voters in Pennsylvania could be asked to produce the newly required photo IDs, but if they did not have them could still go ahead and vote.

“While we’re happy that voters in Pennsylvania will not be turned away if they do not have an ID, we are concerned that the ruling will allow election workers to ask for ID at the polls and this could cause confusion,” said Penda Hair, co-director of Advancement Project, one of the groups that challenged the law. The Pennsylvania law, passed in the spring without any Democratic support, is one of 11 similar laws passed by GOP-dominated legislatures. Backers of the law say they are trying to ensure the integrity of the electoral process by preventing fraud.

But Democrats accuse them of seeking to suppress the votes of the poor and members of minority groups who tend to have neither the needed ID nor the means to go to state offices and obtain it and who tend to vote Democratic.