Photo Identification

HARRISBURG - Pennsylvanians may soon find out whether voting will join buying a drink, boarding a plane, cashing a check, and purchasing a train ticket on the list of activities that require photo identification. The state House has approved the Republican majority's plan to require all voters to show a government-issued photo ID every time the go to the polls - a step that proponents say would prevent illegal voting. Democrats say that there is no evidence the state has a serious problem with voter fraud, and that the bill would only dissuade many voters, especially minorities and the elderly, from casting ballots.

By Robert M. Brandon Last week's relatively problem-free Pennsylvania primary was the latest to demonstrate that requiring photo identification at the polls is a solution in search of a problem. People simply don't risk prison time to impersonate other voters. In 2008, more than six million Pennsylvanians went to the polls for the presidential election, and only four were charged with misrepresentation. So why did the House State Government Committee recently approve a bill to require photo ID of Pennsylvania voters, a program that would cost more than $11 million to initiate and millions more to run each year?

HARRISBURG - Lawyers led by the American Civil Liberties Union asked a state judge Wednesday to speed up a case asking him to order Gov. Corbett's administration to do a better job ensuring that voters know they do not have to show photo identification on Election Day. Commonwealth Court Judge Robert E. Simpson Jr. on Wednesday gave the Corbett administration seven days to respond to the ACLU's request, but Simpson had already let five days go...

More than 758,000 registered voters in Pennsylvania do not have photo identification cards from the state Transportation Department, putting their voting rights at risk in the November election, according to data released Tuesday by state election officials. The figures - representing 9.2 percent of the state's 8.2 million voters - are significantly higher than prior estimates by the Corbett administration. Secretary of the Commonwealth Carol Aichele has repeatedly said that 99 percent of Pennsylvania's voters already had the photo ID they will need at the polls in November.

Monday is the deadline to register if you want to vote in Pennsylvania's April 24 primary. Residents can apply in person at various locations, including county registration offices, PennDot photo and license centers and area agencies on aging. They can also download a registration form - at www.votespa.com - and mail it to their county registration office. In the primary, Republicans and Democrats will vote for nominees for president, the U.S. Senate and House, state attorney general, auditor general and treasurer, the state Legislature as well as delegates to the national nominating conventions.

HARRISBURG - A street in Pennsylvania's capital that was barricaded last week after a series of gunfights has been reopened. Officials in Harrisburg said the block of uptown's Curtain Street and two adjoining alleys were slated to be closed only through the weekend. But Robert Philbin, spokesman for Mayor Linda Thompson, said Monday that the barriers could return or might be used on other streets if warranted. Thompson ordered the 24-hour police barricades put in place Friday after gunfire earlier in the week left bullet holes in cars and homes.

MONDAY is the deadline to register to vote in Pennsylvania's April 24 primary election. Voters can check their registration status, download a voter-registration form and find polling place information at VotesPA.com. Voter-registration eligibility for the primary requires individuals to be 18 years old, a U.S. citizen for at least one month and a resident for at least 30 days of the Pennsylvania election district in which they plan to register and vote. Voters participating in the primary will be asked to produce photo identification as part of the state's new voter-ID law. Although the ID won't be required to vote in this primary, it will be required for the fall general election.

COLUMBIA, S.C. - The U.S. Justice Department was wrong to block South Carolina from requiring voters to show government-issued photo identification to vote, the state's top prosecutor argued in a lawsuit filed Tuesday. Enforcement of the new law "will not disenfranchise any potential South Carolina voter," Attorney General Alan Wilson argues in the suit against U.S. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. "The changes have neither the purpose nor will they have the effect of denying or abridging the right to vote on account of race, color, or membership in a language minority.

HARRISBURG - Pennsylvania voters should expect to be asked for photo identification at polling places in Tuesday's primary election, but those without it won't be barred from voting. The statewide balloting is being used for a test run of the new law that - starting in the Nov. 6 general election - will require Pennsylvanians to show a photo ID that meets state guidelines every time they vote. The goal is to educate voters and identify problems so officials can better prepare for the much larger turnout anticipated in November.

HARRISBURG - Bartenders won't be the only people asking for ID if the state Senate agrees to a controversial change in election law that a Corbett administration appointee stumped for Tuesday. The state's top election official, Commonwealth Secretary Carol Aichele, came out in support of a Republican-backed effort to require voters to show photo identification every time they cast a ballot in Pennsylvania. Aichele said the proposed ID requirement would discourage voter fraud.

This summer, the discussion of the legality of the voter-identification legislation will continue in Commonwealth Court. The key question is whether the state has made it possible for all legal voters to get an ID. The answer to that question is: yes. Free photo identification is available at any of the 71 Department of Transportation driver's license centers across the state for those who sign a form stating that they have no other identification acceptable...

By Sheila Y. Oliver From Colorado to Connecticut, far too many lives have been cut short by senseless gun violence. These are the mass tragedies that grab headlines. But, every day, even more innocent Americans fall victim to bullets. In 2011 alone, 269 New Jerseyans were killed by gun violence. This week, the General Assembly will vote on a comprehensive package of roughly two dozen bills aimed at curbing this epidemic. These measures are a blend of temperance and temerity - the temperance necessary to address this issue pragmatically without trampling on Second Amendment rights, and the temerity to tackle this issue once and for all. For those who argue that our efforts are an emotional response to the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School, I don't entirely disagree.

THANKS TO a decision in Commonwealth Court that temporarily blocked implementation of the Pennsylvania voter-ID law, most voters tomorrow do NOT need to have photo identification to cast their ballots. No thanks to the same decision, confusion and delay could make voting take longer than usual. That would suit the Republicans who passed the law just fine - their obvious intention was to make it harder for people who traditionally vote Democratic to exercise their rights. But you can fight back - not only by getting out to vote tomorrow, but also doing all you can to make voting go faster for yourself and for the people in line with you. The most important fact to know: You do not - repeat, DO NOT - need to have photo identification to vote tomorrow if, like most voters, you have voted in your polling place before.

WE WOULD never say that it doesn't matter whom or what you vote for - in fact, our picks for president and city referendum questions are below - but this year, it could also matter how quickly you vote. Because a controversial Pennsylvania voter-ID law was blocked in court, most voters on Tuesday do NOT need to have photo identification to cast their ballots, although everyone will be asked for one. But there is much confusion over this, and that could lead to delays in the voting line, so be prepared.

HARRISBURG - Lawyers led by the American Civil Liberties Union asked a state judge Wednesday to speed up a case asking him to order Gov. Corbett's administration to do a better job ensuring that voters know they do not have to show photo identification on Election Day. Commonwealth Court Judge Robert E. Simpson Jr. on Wednesday gave the Corbett administration seven days to respond to the ACLU's request, but Simpson had already let five days go...

HARRISBURG - The administration of Republican Gov. Tom Corbett should be ordered to stop "misinformation" over whether voters must show photo identification on Election Day and to clearly broadcast the message that a photo ID is not required, civil-rights lawyers told a state court on Friday. The lawyers' filing came 18 days before the Nov. 6 election and almost three weeks after Commonwealth Court Judge Robert Simpson halted the photo ID requirement over concerns that some people would be unable to get valid photo IDs allowing them to vote and, as a result, would be disenfranchised.

HARRISBURG - The American Civil Liberties Union and other foes of Pennsylvania's voter-ID law are asking a judge to order state officials to stop distributing what they call false and misleading information about the law's role in the Nov. 6 election. The request filed Friday followed reports from voters and newspapers about mailings from state and nongovernment entities that contained outdated information about the law. Earlier this month, Commonwealth Court Judge Robert E. Simpson Jr. blocked the law from taking full effect until after the Nov. 6 election.

HARRISBURG - The Corbett administration scrambled Wednesday to redirect a $2 million advertising campaign on the state's voter ID law, after a judge decided to delay the law's implementation until after next month's presidential election. With ads to air on roughly 20 network TV affiliates statewide, along with dozens of radio stations, billboards, buses, and websites, it's an uphill battle to pull the plug quickly, said Department of State spokesman Ron Ruman. "We have requests that all spots be pulled," he said, adding that he could not be sure when they would be off the air. Tuesday's ruling by Commonwealth Court Judge Robert E. Simpson Jr. allows registered voters to cast ballots in the Nov. 6 election whether they have photo identification or not. They will be asked for photo ID at the polls, but the lack of same will not bar them from voting, the judge ruled.

HARRISBURG - Attorneys seeking to block Pennsylvania's controversial new voter-ID law from taking effect in the Nov. 6 election are contending that anything short of an outright injunction will result in some voters being disenfranchised. The lawyers made their arguments in the last round of paperwork filed Friday to Commonwealth Court Judge Robert E. Simpson Jr., who has until Tuesday to make his decision in the nationally watched case. Earlier this week, Simpson said he was contemplating a narrow injunction that would leave the essence of the law intact and would focus only on the portion that deals with provisional ballots.