The Martin Luther & Coretta Scott King Memorial Project, the Allentown NAACP, Equality Pennsylvania, and the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania hosted a town hall meeting Wednesday at Muhlenberg College to inform citizens about the new voter ID law passed March 14.
When Barbara Redmond voted in April's primary election, she had no idea her driver’s license had expired.
“I pulled out my ID and the poll worker told me it was expired, and even though he knew me from years of coming there he said it wouldn’t work in November,” the South Whitehall Township resident said.
“It was just one of those things that I was busy and I didn’t think about it. I never would have known.”
April marked the dry run for the new Pennsylvania legislation requiring a valid photo ID to vote. While Redmond was still allowed to vote in April, she would only have been able to fill out a provisional ballot come November.
After that, she would have had to bring valid photo ID to her county election board within six days, according to an information pamphlet provided by state Sen. Pat Browne.
The Martin Luther & Coretta Scott King Memorial Project, the Allentown NAACP, Equality Pennsylvania, and the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania hosted a town hall meeting Wednesday at Muhlenberg College to inform citizens about the new voter ID law passed March 14.
The legislation says identification required to vote must be issued by the government or commonwealth and it must include the voter’s name, birthday, photograph, and valid expiration date. Examples of acceptable forms of identification are a passport, driver’s license, ID from an accredited Pennsylvania college or university or from a licensed care facility, said Sara Mullen, associate director of ACLU of Pennsylvania.
Yet the new law provides many impediments to voting, resulting in the possibility of disenfranchisement, said Adrian Shanker, president of Equality Pennsylvania.
“The effects cross every boundary including political parties, religion, sexual orientation, class, geographical location, age, and race,” Shanker said.
While an expired ID like Redmond’s may be an easy fix for some, that is not always the case, Mullen said. ACLU of Pennsylvania has filed a preliminary injunction lawsuit against the state to commence July 25 based on several clients’ inability to obtain adequate identification to vote.
If you never had a driver’s license from Pennsylvania and don’t have a copy of your birth certificate, you are at risk for disenfranchisement, Mullen said. She said the process to obtain a birth certificate could exceed the amount of time available before you have to register to vote.
Shanker also said members of the LGBT community who have had their names changed also have problems attaining acceptable ID.
And even if you have photo ID from an accredited Pennsylvania University, 84 percent of them don’t have expiration dates, Mullen said.
The possible problems extend to senior citizens and the disabled, who may have expired IDs and cannot get to an office to have them renewed, said Daniel Bosket, president of Allentown’s NAACP. He also said 30,000 people in the Lehigh Valley are without acceptable IDs.
“In our community many of the power voters are seniors, Bosket said. “I don’t know if between now and then if there will be enough time or resources for people to get their IDs or to get help doing so.”
Every single Democratic lawmaker voted against the legislation, and critics say the bill was a political tactic by Republicans. Although it was pitched to prevent voter fraud, there has never been a case of in-person impersonation for voting, Mullen said.
“I really resent that this extra layer of impediment is being placed on people,” said Kathryn Hoffman of Allentown. “It’s a useless law denying us of our liberties. Don’t be cool about it. Be mad.”