I’m going to have to talk about Pennsylvania’s voter ID law again because the Pennsylvania ACLU has an absolutely wonderful blog up about the trial. I have special sympathy for voting enthusiasts in Pennsylvania, because we in Ohio went through this when Republicans and lobbyists enacted a much less restrictive voter ID law.
This extremely restrictive law must have been rammed through in a big hurry, because Republicans and their lobbyists pushed it through before it was finished! Governor Corbett rubber stamped it, although we found out today he has no idea what’s in it.
The political appointee who runs elections under Governor Corbett famously stated that fewer than 1% of voters lacked the specific photo ID required to vote. That figure was off by a mile, and there’s been speculation on where that 1% number came from. Now we know:
Rebecca Oyler, of the Pennsylvania Department of State. Ms. Oyler testified about internal estimates of voters without PennDOT ID, and the related tax cost estimates supplied by the Department to the State Legislature when the voter ID law was being debated. The Department of State famously (and frequently) touted a figure of 1% of eligible voters in PA (or about 90 thousand individuals) who did not have photo ID from PennDOT. They revised that figure in June, following an internal audit, to roughly three-quarters of a million individuals – 9% of the population.
On the witness stand, Ms. Oyler testified that she herself put together the 1% figure in less than 24 hours, at the request of her superiors, relying on 2010 Census figures and statistics from an unknown source that she was told came from PennDOT. When Ms. Oyler asked PennDOT follow-up questions, including what portion of their ID database came from non-citizens, PennDOT did not reply.
Ms. Oyler also testified that, following that initial 24-hour calculation, no further effort was made to verify those numbers until after the voter ID law was passed.
Republicans, their lobbyists and Governor Corbett were so determined to put this thing in prior to the 2012 election that they neglected to define the terms used in the law. Maybe ALEC didn’t send along statutory definitions. Probably an oversight:
“substantial conformity” is the term PA’s voter ID statue applies to the similarity between a voter’s name on his or her photo ID and the name that appears on state election rolls. The legislature included no definition nor criteria for this term. Ultimately, the question of substantial conformity, and the decision as to whether two names match – say, for example “James Smith” and “Jim Smith” – will be left to those individual boards of elections, and ultimately to the individual poll workers.
Leaving such a subjective determination in the hands of so many individuals raises significant questions. Substantive differences in name are not uncommon – particularly for recently-married women. Voters whose ID is rejected would have the opportunity to cast a provisional ballot, but as they will have only six days to order and obtain a corrected ID card, the odds that their vote will be counted are slim.
A similar problem confronts the voter ID law’s provision for “indigent” voters. According to the law, voters who are “indigent” are permitted to bypass ID requirements and instead complete a special form, which must be submitted to the county board of elections to accompany their provisional ballot. Once again, however, lawmakers failed to define “indigent,” and so it is left to the county boards of elections, and ultimately to the discretion of individual poll workers, to decide who is indigent and who is not –
In short, under PA’s new laws you’re not only handing that poll worker your photo ID card – you’re also handing over unprecedented authority over whether or not you can vote. Try to smile.
When Ohio’s law went in, we had many voters show up without an ID. The Ohio law is much less restrictive than the Pennsylvania law. Ohio will accept certain “government documents” as ID. However, Ohio Republicans never bothered to define “government document.” Because I was encountering all these voters who hadn’t brought ID, and because I know they all have a vehicle registration in the car they came to the polls in (if they’re following Ohio law) I alone determined that a vehicle registration was a “government document.” It’s issued by the state, it has the voter’s name and address, and best of all, they ALL had it “with” them. I then announced this rule with great authority to my fellow poll workers, and we all followed it. I won that round that day, and now it is official practice to accept a vehicle registration as a “government document” in Ohio, as it should be, because it meets the vague requirements in the sloppy statute Republicans sketched out on a cocktail napkin.
Take what I just told you and imagine poll workers in Pennsylvania defining the word “indigent” or what constitutes “substantial conformity” during a high turn-out Presidential election. Take what I just told you and imagine poll workers who have been fed a steady diet of voter fraud hysteria by media personalities, Right wing internet celebrities and politicians and imagine THEM interpreting those terms. How’s that going to go if you’re a member of the groups targeted by these laws? Think you’ll be voting?
THAT’S how little thought Governor Corbett and Pennsylvania Republicans put into this law. That’s how little respect they have for the process that put them into power in the first place.
HEY YOU
How many Republican will not have proper ID. LMAO
cathyx
Hopefully then it displaces more Republican voters than democratic.
Kay
@HEY YOU:
My precinct is overwhelmingly Republican. People who approach this in good faith want to “get them voted” as we say in Ohio, regardless of any profound and perhaps tragic mistakes they may or may not make in choosing leaders :)
BGinCHI
I hope the next round of state elections bring an end to this experiment in fascism-lite.
doofus
I believe the murkiness is part of the point.
Kay
@efgoldman:
Yay! Hopefully the arrogant coward won’t budge. I don’t even care if he releases the returns. Either way, we get to talk about the returns. I’ve adopted this regretful tone with Republicans here: “I’m sure it’s LEGAL, but is it right that he didn’t pay taxes?”
I just slip that “didn’t pay taxes” part right by them, and they defend not paying taxes.
eldorado
this better get thrown out
Zach
There’s probably about 1% of PA residents who are out-of-state college students who aren’t registered to vote in PA but are legally allowed to do so.
Kay
@eldorado:
It’s already a mess. They keep changing it. My hope is they stay the whole stupid mess until after 2012, and maybe Republicans can find the time to put something coherent together, or, better, lose their jobs.
geg6
Well, Kay, I still haven’t been able to get through to the Dept. of State after three days of trying. If I’m actually able to talk to a person (which happens about once every six tries), I’m transferred to another line that never picks up and, when it does, it’s voicemail. And I never get a return call.
I didn’t change my address on my driver’s license when I moved in with John, knowing I would have to renew it this year anyway, so why spend the extra $25, right? I did change it on my voter registration card and on my auto registration, though. So I want to know if I can use those to supplement my license when I go to vote. If not, I’ll have to spend the $25 and a day at the driver’s license center in October to change my address and then spend another $25 and day at the drivers license center the next month in order to renew the license. And I’m lucky because I have a car to drive there, enough income to afford wasting $25, and an employer that provides enoughvacation time that I can take those two days off. I can’t imagine how people who aren’t as lucky as me will manage.
I hate these people with a white hot hate.
WereBear
Incompetence is a Republican virtue, apparently; so many of them practice it, and no one ever complains.
pseudonymous in nc
That law was definitely passed hot off the fax from ALEC.
Another biggie: the survey finds 13% of eligible voters who think they have a valid ID, but don’t, and that 27% of those who don’t have valid ID also lack the primary documentation to get it.
Tonal Crow
Warning Will Robinson! Extreme Equal Protection violation! Extreme Due Process violation! Void for vagueness! Warning! Warning!
Also too, I seem to recall certain Republican “Justices” decrying a far less arbitrary process during the 2000 election.
—-
Tag: Romney’s worse than Sarah Palin.
JoyfulA
@geg6: @geg6: I think you can change your address for your driver’s license online and free; PennDOT sends you a paper card to accompany your (old) license until you are due for another photo ID. At least, that’s what I remember doing when I moved 5 years ago.
There are reasons for Corbett having the lowest approval rating of any U.S. governor.
freemark
@geg6: Changing address is free and can be done online
PA License services
Penn Dot is actually very quick and you will have your change of address in less than 7 days.
kay
@JoyfulA:
My daughter did that. She went online to Penndot, changed the address and got a card with the new address to bring with her.
But I harangue her constantly about voting, so she was probably very motivated so I would stop bothering her.
Cassandra
Kay, you are the best! In Philadelphia, where this law will have the biggest impact, the news is unrelenting. Our local public radio has a segment on it just about every day, and The Inquirer is on top of it, not to mention individual columnists and Op/Ed pages. The hue and cry is loud. I truly believe it will not stand.
muddy
@geg6: The silver lining is that you now have multiple licenses, even tho some are expired, they are still useful. I lost my driver’s license last year, went for another, then it expired so I had to do it again, and in the meanwhile the 1st one turned up in the door pocket in the car.
So the new proper one is in the wallet, one is in the dog’s backpack, and one is in the car. I like the dog one, then I don’t need to carry my wallet for ID. Of course the inconvenience wasn’t much for me, I have time on my hands, drive right past the dmv on the way to errands, and I have never waited over 10 minutes there. The expense was a problem though.
freemark
I feel sorry for Penn DOT workers. Penn DOT has actually done an awesome job with all the paperwork (DL, registration, etc) over the last 10 years. Everything I’ve done online I’ve gotten back in 3-5 days. And everything I have done or friends have done in person has taken less than 15 minutes.
But I think that will go out the window the two weeks before the election and everyone starts realizing they need to get ID. And of course govt and workers will be blamed which will make the Republicans even happier. A two-fer.
geg6
@JoyfulA:
Huh. Well, the PENNDOT person I called did not tell me that.
Corbett’s PA is a hellhole of incompetence.
JPL
My son was not allowed to change his address online for some bizarre reason and the wait in GA is now 4 to 6 hours. You have to bring a birth certificate, Social Security Card, two proof of address i.e. electric bill and if you are a female who is married a marriage license. fun and games..
kay
@Cassandra:
I’m so glad. The first year ours went in we had these nice older ladies in track suits, retired, just jumped in the car to go 3 blocks and vote like they’ve been doing for 30 years, we all live w/in 3 miles of one another, and I’m supposed to send them home for ID?
It was just dumb. Now it’s 6 years later and everyone knows the drill, but it was chaos that 1st election.
It’s crazy to put it in on a presidential election year.
Litlebritdifrnt
The whole thing in a nightmare, you can’t get a photo ID without a birth certificate, you can’t get a birth certificate without a photo ID. These evil bastards know exactly what they are doing. If they can’t win the election they will damn well steal it.
japa21
One thing that has been consistently overlooked, or at least I haven’t seen any mention of it, is the availability of fake ID’s. Although I never tried to obtain one, I did know several people when I was younger who were able to get them fairly easily.
I know things have changed to make them more secure, but many poll workers are older, in a rush, how are they supposed to tell a real ID from a good fake.
It seems to me, that requiring a voter ID actually increases the likelihood for fraud.
Lolis
Am I naive to hope the sloppy way the law was written will make it more likely it is thrown out in court or at least suspended till after the election?
kay
@Lolis:
I don’t think it’s naive. Election rules have to be consistent, voter to voter. Introducing poll worker discretion introduces BIAS.
I don’t know what “substantially compliant” means in terms of a name match.
I would lean towards approving it, because I’m an “access person” and I assume the voter is telling the truth unless shown otherwise.
But this can’t be so arbitrary. It has to be consistent. I think the judge is going to be uncomfortable will all that discretion given to poll workers. Lawyers ( and judges) tend to be “rule people”. They like a bright-line rule.
Valdivia
Kay just as always fantastic post. Informative and enraging at the same time, because these assholes aren’t even careful and thorough in the way they try to screw us. Just like under the Bush administration.
Just from reading this I would very very surprised if the trial doesn’t result in a suspension of the law for this election.
texascowgirl
I smell bullshit. Republicans have lost PA buy wide margins in the last four presidential elections. If they thought only 1% of eligible voters lacked proper ID, what would be the point of the law? That 1% of voters without ID wouldn’t have swayed the last 4 presidential contests. Nowhere near. They knew damn well it was more than 1% who could be disenfranchised.
Randy P
@texascowgirl: Mike Turzai, PA house majority leader is on the record with that one: “”Voter ID, which is going to allow Gov. Romney to win the state of Pennsylvania – done.””
Davis X. Machina
You have to bring a birth certificate, Social Security Card….
I’ve seen state ID requirements worded in such a way that even if you produce a passport — a passport establishes identity and legal residence in the US — you also need to produce an SS card, even thought all the SS card does is show you’re visible to the tax system.
Ken Pidcock
@freemark: I hadn’t factored resentment of government services into this, but you have a point.