Last March, Pennsylvania's Republican-dominated House and Senate enacted a measure requiring all voters to furnish a photo ID in order to exercise their right to the ballot. Without missing a beat, Governor Tom Corbett signed off on it. ( It should be noted that not a single Democratic lawmaker voted "yes").
Supposedly, the rationale for this new law is prevention of voter fraud. Yet lawyers for the State of Pennsylvania have admitted that such fraud is virually non-existent.
So then, why even bother with this new mandate? (Hey, I thought the GOP favored lean government). Well, it seems as if House Majority Leader Mike Turzai let the kitty out of the trickbag in a moment of candor. He frankly stated that the new law "was going to allow Governor Romney to win the state of Pennsylvania".
Appalling! These folks seem utterly incapable of feeling shame!
In the meantime many Pennsylvanians who've traditionally cherished their right to the ballot --- unfailingly exercising that right --- have never until now needed to obtain a photo ID. They're actually being confronted with the loss of that hallowed right through no fault of their own.
Consider the plight of voters with limited incomes who can't easily travel to a Department of Transportation (PENNDOT) facility to obtain a photo ID. For instance, the City of Philadelphia has only five outlets, none of which is easily accessible from resource-starved parts of either North or West Philly without a car. (18% of all Philadelphia voters are believed to be lacking photo IDs).
In the Pittsburgh area, massive cuts in transit service are imminent. It's already a crushing challenge for someone living in one of the poverty-plagued industrial suburbs along the Monongahela River to get to one of the nearest PENNDOT facilities, either in Bridgeville or Penn Hills.
The obstacles facing Pennsylvania voters are being replicated in a dozen other states, all dominated by Republicans. If the Department of Justice or state or regional federal courts don't succeed in reversing these blatant injustices, we could well end up witnessing a perversion of the electoral process --- in Pennsylvania or elsewhere --- akin to the hijacking of the Florida election in 2000.
Let's hope that history doesn't repeat itself.
Today's Pennsylvania is a far cry from the state I visited in 1988. --How times change, often NOT for the better!
ReplyDeleteThanks for this post. I'd only seen a small bit about that state's voting issues.
Let's NOT bring back anything reminiscent of the poll tax, America!