Path forward for voter ID in Pa., as long as it ‘doesn’t disenfranchise’

This story originally appeared on WITF.

A Republican lawmaker’s bill to tighten voter ID requirements in Pennsylvania may be part of a compromise with Democrats on a larger set of election reforms.

The bill by state Rep. Tom Mehaffie III, R-Dauphin, meets a key Democratic Party condition — that voter ID not disenfranchise any voters.

“Maybe it doesn’t go far enough for some. Maybe it goes too far for others,” he said. “I think it meets in the middle and that’s what we’re really trying to do.”

Mehaffie’s bill would create a “non-strict” ID requirement, the kind already in place in 24 of the 36 states with voter ID requirements, according to the National Conference of State Legislators. In non-strict states, voters without ID or who simply forget to bring theirs to the polls can still cast regular ballots by signing an affirmation or getting another voter to vouch for their identity.

“I hope this is part of a bigger, more broad election code change,” Mehaffie said. “I think it’s gonna make it better for the voter.”

House Democrats are interested in reforms to expand the pre-canvassing period, which would allow counties to process but not count mail-in ballots before Election Day. They also want to clarify mail-in voting rules, such as when and how voter errors on return envelopes can be corrected, and to create a formal early voting process, said House Speaker Joanna McClinton, D-Philadelphia.

At an elections reform event in early March, McClinton said she had not yet spoken to Senate leadership about an election reform bill. Negotiations could start this week, she said.

Greg Rothman, leader of Pennsylvania’s Republican State Committee, said voter ID and early in-person voting are crucial election reforms for his caucus.

Mehaffie’s bill, based on an amendment passed out of the House at the end of last session, is one of five Republican-introduced proposals to expand voter ID requirements. State Rep. Clint Owlet, R-Tioga, introduced a bill with strict requirements. State Reps. David Zimmerman, R-Lancaster, and Thomas Kutz, R-Cumberland, each introduced constitutional amendments that would require a strict voter ID rule. Sen. Tracy Pennycuick, R-Berks, says she’ll do the same in the Senate.

More perception than fact, but people want it anyway

Supporters say voter ID is an important safeguard against fraud and increases trust in elections. Neither claim is based on evidence — voter impersonation fraud is vanishingly rare and similar laws in other states didn’t boost trust in the system.

The Heritage Foundation, a right-wing think tank, has been tracking every single incident of voter fraud since 1982. According to their data, Pennsylvania has seen eight incidents of such fraud, all since 2016. Their data shows 40 incidents of any type of fraud in the state in 42 years, and few of the examples highlighted would have been thwarted with voter ID.

Despite the lack of evidence that voter ID does much to improve election security, people want it. Another Pew survey showed 81% of Americans favor a voter ID requirement. An April 2024 poll from Franklin & Marshall College shows that 73% of Pennsylvanians want it, too, and approval crosses partisan lines.

Public interest skyrocketed since 2020, according to Berwood Yost, director of the college’s Center for Opinion Research. He says the constant — and false — refrain from Donald Trump and his supporters that there were problems in the election had a profound impact on public trust in elections and on the desire for all types of electoral reform.

“Of course, if elected officials want to increase trust in the election process, they could talk honestly about how much fraud there isn’t,” Yost said, adding it will likely be harder to rebuild trust than it was to damage it.

Affecting those on the margins 

Pennsylvania already has a voter ID law. Not only do voters need to verify their identity through the registration process, they need to show ID the first time they vote at a precinct. That includes for people who have been voting for decades, then move down the street and get a new polling place.

Stricter requirements will disproportionately impact working-class people and those already on the margins, according to Krystle Knight, Pennsylvania state director for VoteRiders, a nonprofit, nonpartisan group that helps people get access to state identification.

She says women who change their names, women fleeing domestic violence, low-mobility people who have trouble leaving the house (like the elderly), unhoused people, transgender people, and people from adoption or foster care backgrounds are all disproportionately impacted by ID requirements. People in rural Pennsylvania have an especially hard time due to the lack of public transportation and greater distances to government offices.

Natural disasters and pure bad luck, like a house burning down, also cause people to lose their identification. Under a non-strict voter ID law, like Mehaffie’s, all these people could still vote.

Democrats come around on voter ID

Secretary of State Al Schmidt, speaking on behalf of the administration, said Gov. Josh Shapiro would accept a voter ID bill.

“There’s no door that’s closed in working with the Legislature to get things done, provided no voter is disenfranchised by those changes,” he said.

Shapiro’s office did not comment on the Republican-backed election bills introduced so far. But the office issued a statement indicating the governor may be willing to trade voter ID for other election reforms Democrats support.

“As always, the Governor is open to working with anyone to deliver results on [election reform] — but as he has said before, doing so will require including reforms to keep protecting our democracy for all Pennsylvanians,” wrote Gov. Shapiro’s spokesperson, Manuel Bonder.

Republican concerns

Donald Trump’s victory in the 2024 election largely restored Republican voters’ trust in elections, according to a recent survey by the Pew Research Center. People especially trust their local elections.

But the backers of strict voter ID requirements — Sen. Pennycuick and Rep. Zimmerman — insisted on the need to fight fraud and improve voter confidence.

“Simply by needing to show an ID, it would add tremendous credibility back to the whole system, which is not trusted today,” Zimmerman said.

His proposed constitutional amendment would increase residency requirements to 90 days before an election, up from 30. The purpose would be to prevent people from temporarily moving across state lines in order to have greater impact with their votes.

“There are clearly opportunities to abuse the way the system is set up,” Zimmerman said.

Asked for examples, Zimmerman said, “I’m not in position to point to actual evidence, but the possibility exists.”

Likewise, neither Pennycuick nor Mehaffie could point to evidence of voter fraud, let alone fraud that could be prevented by introducing voter ID.

But if the legislature can introduce a bill that helps even a handful of voters be more confident in the system, it’s worth it, Mehaffie said.

“I think we can put this into place and it doesn’t hurt anybody or disenfranchise anybody from voting,” he said.

Reps. Kutz and Owlett did not respond to questions.

University of Pennsylvania law professor Michael Morse said the limited impact of voter ID as a fraud deterrent raises the question of why put so much effort on it.

“In Pennsylvania, we could expand access and increase confidence in many other ways that are more important by thinking about things like pre-processing, thinking about mail ballot rejections, thinking about early voting,” Morse said.