Court hearing set in Pa. voter ID challenge

Opponents of Pennsylvania’s voter ID law will face state lawyers in a commonwealth court hearing Wednesday.

The hearing is expected to go on into next week as both sides outline their arguments.

Washington, D.C., attorney David Gersch is arguing alongside the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups. He says a million registered voters in Pennsylvania don’t have the photo identification they’ll need at the polls in November.

“If you’ve listened to the proponents of the law over these many months you would have the impression that everyone either has photo ID or they can easily get it,” said Gersch. “Their message is ‘photo ID is used for everything, what’s the big deal?’ It is a big deal.”

Attorneys for the commonwealth plan to argue voters have ample time to get proper ID before for the upcoming election. They highlight the Department of State’s efforts to offer a special voter ID for people having difficulty obtaining birth certificates.

Within the past month, the state has revised its estimate about how many registered voters don’t have a PennDOT photo ID from 1 percent to as much as 9 percent.

State officials say that amount could be inflated.