Yet another state is pondering a photo ID law to enact before the 2012 election; Pennsylvania officials–including Secretary of State Carol Aichele and Doug Hill of the County Commissioners Association–have recently gathered to debate the issue in anticipation of the Senate’s vote on House-approved photo ID bill, HB 934.
The Republican-sponsored bill requires voters to present valid, government-issued, photographic proof of identity before voting. While “proponents say would prevent illegal voting,” writes Peter Jackson at the Pocono Record, “Democrats say there’s no evidence that the state has a serious problem with voter fraud and that the bill would only dissuade many, especially minorities and the elderly, from casting ballots.”
Currently, 14 states have enacted laws to ask every voter to present photo ID before voting at the polls. Six of those laws were only enacted this year.
Aichele, a former Chester County commissioner, expressed her support for the bill at gathering of county election officials in Lancaster, claiming “it would make it harder for people to commit fraud.” However, Aichele said that she has “never seen voter fraud” since she started working “in polling places since 1981.”
No evidence of actual voter impersonation–a separate offense from submitting falsified voter registration cards–has been mentioned by supporters of the photo ID law. Voter impersonation at the polls is the only form of fraud that a photo ID law can prevent.
Hill said the photo ID requirement would “bog down the voting process,” reports Jackson.
“Everything that you add to the process makes the line longer,” he told Jackson, adding that current law already safeguards against voter registration and voter fraud, including a requirement for first-time voters to show photo or certain non-photo forms of identification.
The Senate is expected to take up the photo ID issue after reconvening on September 19.