Pa. attorneys may ask judge to dismiss voter ID case

    Eight days into the trial, lawyers defending Pennsylvania’s voter identification law still may ask the presiding judge to dismiss the case entirely.A motion may be filed to dismiss certain witness testimony and claims made by the challengers, said Nils Hagen-Frederiksen, spokesman for the lawyers defending the requirement.

    “We don’t believe that they’ve shown any evidence to support their case in principle and we don’t believe that the allegations have been supported by what’s been heard so far in court,” he said Wednesday. “So we’ll certainly consider asking the judge to simply dismiss the matter.”

    But state attorneys can’t make such a motion until the challengers rest their case, Hagen-Frederiksen said.

    It may not happen for several days because of unresolved issues between the two legal teams.

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    The state has started presenting its case in the trial over whether voter ID is constitutional.

    A deputy secretary for PennDOT has testified clerks have not been asking patrons if they want ID for voting — and noted patrons can get their ID for free only if it’s clear they need it for voting purposes.

    An employee for the Department of Aging testified she misdirected voters about where to get certain IDs after the law was first passed last year.

    A state spokesman says that’s been corrected with the state’s informational campaign.

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