Good job!

The NAACP, the ACLU, and the DNC should direct their energies and monies towards assisting those who require proper voter ID. There is one reason and one reason only to oppose laws that would preserve voter integrity and we all know what that is.

I'm glad this was upheld, You need ID for many things, we should have to show ID to vote!

Well done!
Now on the the PA Supreme Court.

When some precincts turn in more votes than there are residents in that precinct, dead people and pets are allowed to register, voting machines are already loaded with votes before the polls open, illegal aliens are permitted to vote, and the same people vote multiple times, how can anyone be against making it more difficult to commit voter fraud? Many people already obtain help from volunteers on Election Day with transportation, child care, etc. Why can't the same volunteers provide this help to those who need to obtain a photo ID? If the democrats want their party adherents to vote why can’t they help them with the process?

Yes, good job. There were maybe a few dozen cases of voter fraud, and now hundreds of thousands of voters that don't drive can't vote. Sounds fair to me!

Republicans are being so shady here. If they really cared about integrity and honest voting, they would present this NOT 3 MONTHS before the election. They would give people more time and more importantly - a FREE ID. The DMV doesn't give free photo ids, and they have said they couldn't handle the volume if everyone came in to get one who doesn't already have one.

This is nothing more than a poll tax, aimed at keeping the poor from voting since they overwhelmingly vote democratic. If you don't see that, you're not a smart person. More likely you do know this, but have a "whatever it takes to oust Obama" attitude. It's just so shady, shame on all you commenters, have an ounce of integrity and try to win an election based on issues, not tricks like voter suppression.

Very good job. What are these folks without photo id trying to hide. Why the reluctance to get photo id anyway. Just another lame attempt by the Obama supporters to circumvent the right thing to do.

Ah Robert - a liberal who is uninformed, why am I surprised? This law was passed months ago. And free ID's are being offered by PennDOT free of charge if a voter does not have one of the 7 acceptable forms of photo ID. Democrat as well as Republican officials as well as many Tea Party's are offering to drive anyone to a DMV to obtain a photo ID. Now that we've educated you on how uniformed you are, I wonder how uniformed you are about Obama and his failed policies?
You can visit www.votesPA.com or call 1-877-VOTESPA for more info on the voter ID law.

Ms. Laura Freed, I'm sure I'm more conservative than you. Real conservative, not Neo Con hawk "conservative". I'm sorry to say, but if you think this issue is about doing the right thing, it's not. Why is it that only Republicans are pushing for it, in swing states, right before an election? Do you think it's a coincidence? They're doing it because it gives them an advantage. Use your noggin for a split second and then you can go back to suppressing gay and women rights.

Robert- Obviously, you don't know me. A) I believe any consenting adults who want to join together for life, should be able to - I believe the Govt should stay out of all relationships.
This new law went into effect in March of 2012. It was something they were working on for quite some time. I absolutely believe that asking that an upcoming election be free of fraud is perfect timing. Amazing that Obama admin seems so concerned with voter fraud, yet they refused to investigate a charge of self admitted non citizens registering and voting in Houston Texas by TRUE THE VOTE - they refused to investigate the Black Panthers voter intimidation caught on tape in Philadelphia in the last election, and now the Obama administration is trying to prevent the military in Ohio from voting.
It seems like in a horrible economy, fraught with high unemployment, outrageous gas prices, high cost of living - the only thing this administration is concerned about is securing and enlarging their power - it has nothing to do with the people who are truly struggling. And as for your remark about me suppressing women rights? I am a woman. A woman smart enough not to need the Govt to tell me what to do or how to think. The only one suppressing rights is the Obama administration - signing the NDAA, and chaining as many people to the Govt plantation of welfare & foodstamps to take away individual independence and opportunity.

The Whole country is Pushing for Voter ID. Of course The Dummycrats are against it because They were involved with Acorn To begin with.

The law to be fair needed more time to become effective. It was rushed through to be effective in the next election because the tea hats know there will be a backlash. Those targeted are those most likely to vote Dem. We know the truth so don't defend with it the dumb statement it will prevent fraud. The fraud is with the politicians. I hope this goes to the supreme court.

The defense against fraud was given up by the government, it passed the law, because it could and by the admission of one of the legislators, would get Romney elected. That is fraud. And when it goes to the state supreme court..one of the republican judges will be missing,suspended.

By MARC LEVY 08/15/12 10:34 AM ET
The original Republican rationale for the law – to prevent election fraud – played little role in the court case. Government lawyers acknowledged that they are "not aware of any incidents of in person voter fraud." Instead, they insisted that lawmakers properly exercised their latitude to make election-related laws.

Marc Levy, 8/15/12..Associated Press
At the state Supreme Court, votes by four justices would be needed to overturn Simpson's ruling. The high court is currently split between three Republicans and three Democrats following the recent suspension of Justice Joan Orie Melvin, a Republican who is fighting criminal corruption charges.

Stop using terms like "dummycrats" and grow up. We should all be able to act as concerned citizens and CARE that all those eligible can vote...no matter your party or views. All of this bickering is childish. At the base of it all, we should hold to the principle that the right and ability to vote is to be cherished. A little education goes a long way...

Let the appeal "games" begin. Perhaps if showing ID is such an issue, we should adopt what other 3rd World COuntries do. Get the indelible purple ink botles, once you vote you stick your thumb in, and anyone who allows you to vote again is shot on the spot.

I'm confident that some "Angry Bird" will apply their Progressive logic (or lack thereof) to rationalise why it is so important that valid voters NOT be identified. Of course, other constitutional rights, like those under the 2nd Amendment, have been compromised. If the Angry Birds believe in what they say, then no ID should be required for firearm purchases, opening of accounts in a new bank, etc.

Here are some facts:

"Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center found PennDot to be woefully unprepared to handle a rush of voters looking to get valid IDs before the election."

"The state's attorneys agreed to stipulate in court that the commonwealth isn't aware of "any incidents of in-person voter fraud in Pennsylvania."

"House Republican Leader Mike Turzai 'fessed up to the law's political purpose before a crowd of applauding GOP faithful, telling them that voter ID "is going to allow Gov. Romney to win the state of Pennsylvania."

Given all these facts, what do you think this Voter ID law is about, doing what's right or voter suppression?

Elizabeth...
This may be of help to you.
http://articles.philly.com/2012-08-06/news/33049812_1_absentee-ballots-voter-id-law-case-of-voter-fraud
Though Pennsylvania's new voter ID law requires anyone showing up at the polls in November to produce an approved photo identification, voters may not need a photo ID if they vote by absentee ballot or by alternative ballot, the term used when the voter is 65 years old or handicapped and has an inaccessible polling place.
Absentee ballots are available to people who can't get to their polling places on Election Day because of illness, physical disability, or religious reasons, and to people who expect to be absent because their "duties, occupation, or business require [them] to be elsewhere."
Alternative ballots are available to any voters who are at least 65 years old or disabled and who are assigned to inaccessible polling places.

This is like if Democratic controlled legislatures required white church goers to be able to do 5 pull ups. Sure, we gave them more than enough time to build up how many pull ups they can do, but why should we target Republicans' base and create barriers to prevent them from voting? The only thing missing from this analogy is a purported excuse for enacting it. I'm sure the Dems could come up with a reason as seemingly necessary as non-existing voter fraud.

So the Amish in Pennsylvania no longer have the right to vote!

I swear I cant watch these people steal another election, My head is about to blow off.
This will be the 3rd election thats been stolen. Are we supposed to just stand by and watch Corbett hand the presidency to fucki# Romey. Bush stole Florida in 2000 , Ohio in 2004 and now Ohio and Pennsylvania will be given just fuckin# given to Mitt the Twitt !!! NOT AGAIN!!!

No one has ever reported a dog voting.

http://amishamerica.com/amish-voting-photo-ids/?cid=16161

The laws requiring photo IDs were pushed almost entirely by Republicans, despite the absence of evidence of widespread election fraud. It was presented as a “good government” issue, but many Democrats suspected that the real reason was to discourage voting by poorer people who would be less likely to have IDs or driver’s licenses and who tend to vote Democratic. But it may end up keeping the Amish, who tend to vote Republican (when they vote), from going to the polls. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Republican-controlled Ohio General Assembly passed a religious exemption

Those Amish that do vote tend to be conservative.
All Pennsylvania voters including the Amish would be required to show government-issued identification in every election under legislation passed by the state House this week.
But Plain sect voters could claim an exemption, based on their religious objections, from the provision requiring a photograph appear on the ID cards.
To do so, however, they would be forced to clear more regulatory hurdles than the average voter, lawmakers said. They'd be required to show a nonphoto ID at polling places, and getting such a card involves providing the state Department of Transportation with a statement of their beliefs signed by their church district's bishop.
"It's actually harder to get that ID than just a driver's license," said Rep. John Lawrence, a Republican from Chester County who authored the exemption provisions in the voter ID bill.
"They have to show a state-issued ID just like other voters," he said. "They're not getting a pass."

Read more: http://lancasteronline.com/article/local/411166_Proposed-voter-ID-law-would-impact-Amish.html#ixzz23eJo5fpb

Wow Lisa Really...

How have the thousands of those without a drivers license or no photo ID as reported by Penn Dot identified themselves up to now? Alternate ID has always been acceptable. Medical cards,credit cards, utility bills showing the name and address..etc. Really! I registered to vote in NYC when I was 21, that was the voting age then, I did not have drivers license, did not need one, I showed my SS card, and birth cert...which was not a city one with a raised seal, just the one the hospital gave my mother. I now live in Bucks, for 41 years, not in 50 years of voting have I ever gone to vote and been told..sorry you voted already. When husband died his name was promptly removed from voter rolls...no one could vote in his name..deaths are reported by the funeral directors. The issue of fraud is phony. A nail looking for a hammer.

Good job. Not. Snow job, yes.

to laura..
You should read the lawsuit about Ohio instead of listening to talking heads. The governor, a tea hat, cut back the early voting hours for civilians but left it for miltiary. The lawsuit asks for EQUAL VOTING HOURS FOR ALL CITIZENS. The military objects because it fears THAT EQUAL MIGHT MEAN THEY GET HOURS CUT INSTEAD OF THE HOURS RESTORED. Not to hard to understand. Now why do you suppose governor tea hat who has pissed off his citizens wants to shorten their hours to vote after all these years of having the opportunity.

And again for Laura..
The accusation of intimidation in Philadelphia was investigated. The accusation was that it was a plan by the national organization of Black Panthers. That proved untrue. It was 2 men, one a registered poll watcher, who were involved. One was removed from the premises by the police. The other one was there legitimately. There were no complaints from any citizen that his/her vote was not cast out of fear. You cant prosecute a non crime.

To Lisa..
First of all telling me to find something better to do with my time is snotty. This is an important issue and you did not get the point of my objection.
My ID including med card did not have my picture. I never had to show a picture when I registered 50 years ago. That is the plight of many seniors, many low income people who live in apts, and all the people in the city in row houses. It is unlikey they have drivers licenses or had the need before now for a photo ID. The problem with getting one is mulitple for too many. It is about securing the requested documents in the first place which many my age no longer have or ever had. It is an expedition to put it all in order and then go to a Penndot site and be met by people who do not know what the rules are or how to implement them. What this law needed to be fair was a longer timeline to give everyone time to get the paper work they needed and to be informed. Yes Penna is one of many states, but all are republican controlled, which is defining, and Penna has one of the toughest laws, and now many of those states are changing the voting hours, cutting early voting in some states. One state cut early voting in Dem districts, citing financial restraints while the officials in those disticts said there was no financial issues. See it for what it is. Maybe its time to have a national ID and end all the crap once and for all.

The state I referred to is Ohio. The rights of some citizens are being trashed in order to make political gain. This should offend everyone. If not you today, maybe tomorrow. The dems are being stifled and the demographics say the largest percentage are Black and low income. Not the party of Lincoln anymore.

If you live in Butler or Warren counties in the Republican-leaning suburbs of Cincinnati, you can vote for president beginning in October by going to a polling place in the evening or on weekends. Republican officials in those counties want to make it convenient for their residents to vote early and avoid long lines on Election Day.
But, if you live in Cincinnati, you’re out of luck. Republicans on the county election board are planning to end early voting in the city promptly at 5 p.m., and ban it completely on weekends, according to The Cincinnati Enquirer. The convenience, in other words, will not be extended to the city’s working people.
The sleazy politics behind the disparity is obvious. Hamilton County, which contains Cincinnati, is largely Democratic and voted solidly for Barack Obama in 2008. So did the other urban areas of Cleveland, Columbus and Akron, where Republicans, with the assistance of the Ohio secretary of state, Jon Husted, have already eliminated the extended hours for early voting. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/15/opinion/overt-discrimination-in-ohio.html

look if I can walk in any poll and say I am george washington and vote and no one questions it then we have a problem, Everyone should have to prove who thye are so they arent voting for someone else, no ig damn deal... for thise with older folk, go get a POA to obtain an ID on their behalf, problem solved.....

I just don't see how this moved up to the top of the priority list. There seems little evidence that there's a rampant problem with voter fraud in Pa.

There is, however, more than ample evidence that we have a massive economic problem in the state. Why don't we spend more time trying to tackle that one?

To Liberty...
Eric Holder is a piss poor AG...however the accusation was against the organization plotting...and there was no plot. The guy in Philly was an individual who may have looked menacing to some but that is not against the law. A prosecution would have cost the tps a lot of money, for what purpose? A judge likely would have tossed it out of court. Voter intimidation is a hard case to prove..unless there is a lot of evidence. Good grief, for people who champion freedom...you want all kinds of restrictions and a man prosecuted for standing outside a polling place looking nasty? Get a grip.

The talking point frequently put out by those who think we shouldn't ID voters is that "there's no evidence of voter fraud." Consider this quote made by Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens in 2008:

“Unfortunately, the United States has a long history of voter fraud that has been documented by historians and journalists,” Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens wrote in 2008, upholding a strict Indiana voter-ID law designed to combat fraud. Justice Stevens, who personally encountered voter fraud while serving on various reform commissions in his native Chicago, spoke for a six-member majority. In a decision two years earlier clearing the way for an Arizona ID law, the Court had declared in a unanimous opinion that “confidence in the integrity of our electoral processes is essential to the functioning of our participatory democracy. Voter fraud drives honest citizens out of the democratic process and breeds distrust of our government. Voters who fear their legitimate votes will be outweighed by fraudulent ones will feel disenfranchised."

Is Justice Stevens wrong, or worse, prevaricating?

Very well put! The same Justice Stevens who is known to be somewhat left of center in many of his decisions. Great history! Thanks.

Google "The Reality of Voter Fraud," John Fund's excellent piece on the subject published in May 2012:

"Just this week in Fort Worth, Texas, a Democratic precinct chairwoman was indicted on charges of arranging an illegal vote. Hazel Woodard James has been charged with conspiring with her non-registered son to have him vote in place of his father. The only reason the crime was detected was that the father showed up later in the day to vote at the same precinct. Most fraudsters are smart enough to have their accomplices cast votes in the names of dead people on the voter rolls, who are highly unlikely to appear and complain that someone else voted in their place."

It'd be easy to continue to cite examples - but would it change your minds?

DOYLESTOWN, PA—CREDO SuperPAC released the following statement today following Judge Robert Simpson’s Commonwealth Court decision to deny an injunction to stop Pennsylvania’s new Voter ID law from going into effect.

“Pennsylvania Republicans are trying to steal the election for Mitt Romney by disenfranchising nearly 58,000 voters in the 8th Congressional District and an estimated 1.6 million voters state-wide,” said Michael Eagle, District Director of CREDO SuperPAC. “While we are disappointed with the Commonwealth Court’s decision today, we are committed to building a large-scale grassroots movement that will inform voters of the new law and work hard to ensure that eligible voters who want to vote out Tea Party Republicans like Rep. Fitzpatrick this November are not disenfranchised by this Republican scheme to steal the election.”

Hi Bob,
Boy THAT is a trick question!! Let's see, if I answer whether the republicans are doing this because it may be the right thing to do then it makes me either stupid or lying for my party. Because I am not a republican I guess I am stupid! Like a typical lefty - anything other than YOUR thoughts are stupid. Using your standards I feel secure in my knowledge.
Will the GOP have an advantage with this law? Very slim. People who are motivated will get their butts out of the chair and get a picture id. Democrats love to throw around hugely inflated numbers to fit their arguements. The more inflated the number the more desperate they are.
Any more trick questions?

@Robert Fiorentino
Heres a trick question for you - what is with you and race?

@Robert F:
"So I ask you, answer honestly here, are Republicans doing this because it's the right thing to do, or because they want an advantage in the election? I'm not asking how hard it is to get an ID, or what's right..." What exactly are you asking? Is it right but don't tell me it is right? Is this another trick question??? ;)

To Peter...
Credo has clearly identified as a Super Pac dedicated to taking down the top ten tea party congressman. An antidote to "Americans for Prosperity".

To georgie porgie..
By far the AFP is better funded...it has Koch Bros behind it. Fact checking is what I do...and the reason I am blocked by those who don't like the truth.

Penna. is bending over backwards to accommodate the "undocumented" voter (from today's WSJ):

"Since the law passed in March, Pennsylvania has also made it easier to get a state ID for voting purposes and begun providing them free of charge. Under state law, driver's licenses, passports, military ID, federal government employee ID and college ID all qualify at the voting booth. The state will also provide a free ID to anyone who signs an affirmation that he needs it to vote, requiring only a Social Security number and two proofs of residence.

But there's more. Voters who show up at their polling place without an ID will be allowed to cast a provisional ballot and present proof of identity within six days. Indigent voters may also cast a provisional ballot and sign a statement saying they couldn't obtain the necessary documents. Does all of this plausibly add up to voter suppression?"

Can't imagine anyone feeling "suppressed" given the above. Depressed, maybe, as Dems seem worried about large numbers of their voters appparently unwilling to make the slightest effort to get an ID.

The FRAUD is faciliated by the court decisions several years ago which make it virtually impossible for the rolls to be purged. SO, my daughter who has not lived here since 2008, can still walk into this polling place and pull a lever. PhotoID MIGHT help curtail that IF a few stars line up: 1) my daughter uses her DL as PhotoID which has her current address on it; 2) the poll worker a)can read, 2) chooses to read, c) decides to abide by the law. I doubt that would happen in some places, like, er, heavens forbid, Filthadelphia.

So, let's implement the purple indelible ink and dipping of the thumb too! That should help. lol

Bobby F,
Again, the bill was first introduced 10 years ago. It was an idea that the author had 10 years ago. He was unable to get enough support for it during that time period. He introduced it again last year. It passed. It was signed by the gov. in March. The point was that 10 years ago when he first introduced it Obama was not a consideration. It was a good idea 10 years ago and it is a good idea now. Do you agree that the dems do not want this law because it puts a crimp in their voter base of fraudulent voters?

Well now, a new attempt to stifle. The online registration and ballot system no longer available. This hurts our active duty citizens..there was a means to vote online by absentee ballot. "not no more".
http://prospect.org/article/creating-hurdles-pennsylvania-drops-efforts-boost-voting

Just learned the city of Philadelphia can register voters, but cannot issue voter ID because the voter ID law specifically prohibits it. Arbitrary. That eliminates the proposal to have mobile vans in the city to help people get ID. Of course.

If this was a work place vote instead of a political one, wouldn't you want to ensure that everyone who voted was an employee? Or would you want people to game the system and force you to adopt work policy and compensation based on their agenda?

when the PA voter ID law is a target of the comedians and satirists, I have to agree it is rigged

http://www.hulu.com/watch/392150