Voting rights groups see the latest decision as a step in the right direction. Judge delays Pa. voter ID law

A judge in Pennsylvania has ordered that the state’s new restrictive voter ID law cannot fully take effect until after Election Day.

Under the ruling, Commonwealth Court Judge Robert Simpson said poll workers in the state can still ask voters to present ID at their polling places, but must allow them to cast a ballot even if they do not have adequate ID.


Simpson, who originally ruled in favor of the law this summer, said he had underestimated the difficulties many eligible voters have had in attempting to get the new state-issued photo ID cards and acknowledged that some of the state’s voters could be disenfranchised.

“I expected more photo IDs to have been issued by this time,” Simpson wrote in his decision. “For this reason, I accept Petitioners’ argument that in the remaining five weeks before the general election, the gap between the photo IDs issued and the estimated need will not be closed.”

While it’s not a total victory for opponents of the law, voting rights groups see the latest decision as a step in the right direction – and expect litigation to pick up again after the election.

“The idea here, which is the right idea, is that eligible voters should not be kept from voting because of election administration rules,” said Wendy Weiser, director of the Democracy Program at the Brennan Center for Justice. “We need to have flexible rules that have some way for an eligible citizen who wants to participate to participate.”

Meanwhile, Republicans in the state saw the ruling as a reinforcement of the law’s constitutionality, despite the delay in enacting it.

“We shouldn’t have to wait for this common sense reform to be enacted. With that being said, Voter ID is still Pennsylvania law, was found to be constitutional and we will work to encourage voters to bring their photo identification with them to the polls,” Pennsylvania GOP Chairman Rob Gleason said in a statement. “Poll after poll has shown that Pennsylvanians from both political parties overwhelmingly support Voter ID legislation because, despite the empty rhetoric to the contrary, this legislation is still about ensuring one person, one vote.”

The new requirements were passed by the GOP-led state legislature and signed into law by GOP Gov. Tom Corbett in March. A handful of voting rights groups filed suit against the law this summer, and Simpson originally ruled in favor of the law.

Under the law, one of the strictest in the nation, voters must present a valid photo ID issued either by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania or the U.S. government. They can also present several other forms of ID, like a student ID card with an expiration date. The law states that any voter who cannot produce adequate ID can cast a provisional ballot and show their ID at a local elections office within six days for their vote to count.

But with the passage of the new requirements came a fear from voting rights groups and Democrats that a large proportion of the state’s voters, particularly young voters and minorities, would be unable to get adequate IDs before November’s election.

A study by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation found this summer that more than 9 percent of the state’s registered voters did not have the kinds of ID required under the new law — including 18 percent of Philadelphia County, a Democratic stronghold in the state.

Opponents of the law appealed the case to Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court, which returned it to the lower court last month and set an Oct. 2 deadline for that decision.

Primarily at issue in the arguments before the Supreme Court was the idea that regardless of the merits of the law, it could not be effectively implemented before this November. Simpson’s ruling Tuesday confirmed that, despite efforts of state officials to make the ID cards more readily available, concerns remain about the timeline for doing so.