NAACP, ACLU and others file suit against Pa. voter ID law

The future of Pennsylvania’s recently passed voter ID law may be decided in the courtroom. The American Civil Liberties Union and the NAACP are among the groups suing to halt the measure.

The lawsuit claims requiring voters to show photo ID at the polls is unconstitutional and asks Commonwealth Court to block the law’s enforcement before the November election.  According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, voter ID laws have been challenged and upheld in Arizona, Georgia, Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio.  

But ACLU legal director Vic Walczak says his group is focusing on how the laws have been blocked in Wisconsin and Missouri.

“The courts have said, no, you cannot justify disenfranchising longtime voters based on a fear of a non-problem, which is essentially what in-person voter ID is,” said Walczak.

Walczak says the suit will present the stories of longtime voters who would be disenfranchised by the law, because it would be impossible for them to get one of the kinds of photo ID required.  

The commonwealth’s secretary of State has said the law will prevent voter impersonation fraud at the polls, but hasn’t been able to prove such fraud has been a problem.