Pennsylvania Moves Closer To Blocking Voter ID Law

by: Oreo

Tue Sep 18, 2012 at 13:53:28 PM EDT

The law still stands but there is a better chance today that Pennsylvania will drop the outrages voter suppression laws

Last month, a Pennsylvania trial judge upheld that state’s Voter ID law, in an opinion that relied at least in part on Nineteenth Century precedent which claimed that vote suppressing laws may be permissible to protect against ‘rogues,’ ‘strumpets,’ and ‘wandering arabs.’ Today, the state supreme court vacated that order, noting that the law is not living up to its own promises of ensuring voters will have access to ID:

[T]he Law contemplates that the primary form of photo identification to be used by voters is a Department of Transportation (PennDOT) driver’s license or the non-driver equivalent provided under Section 1510(b) of the Vehicle Code. Furthermore, the Law specifically requires that – notwithstanding provisions of Section 1510(b) relating to the issuance and content of the cards – PennDOT shall issue them at no cost . . . . As such, the Law establishes a policy of liberal access to Section 1510(b) identification cards. - Think Progress

It's now up to the state to prove that voters won't be disenfranchised. If it's decided that they cannot prove as such, an injunction would be placed.