Temple, Penn State make changes ahead of voter ID implementation

Pennsylvania’s new voter ID law gets its first test at the polls in a “trial run” on Tuesday.

Providing photo identification at the polls will become mandatory in November.

Proponents say it will prevent voter fraud. Opponents say it will disenfranchise those who do not have photo identification or are not aware that they will need it.

The law allows the use of student IDs, as long as they have not expired. The problem is that many student IDs lack expiration dates; without them, the cards do not fulfill the law’s requirements.

Temple University in Philadelphia has decided to add expiration dates to its student IDs by the fall.

“We were in the process of redoing [ID cards] anyway, so when this law was passed, we decided to add expiration dates,” says Temple spokeswoman Eryn Jelesiewicz.

“Every five to seven years, for security reasons and because [the] student body turns over, we recard and this happened to be perfect timing,” she said.

From now on, Penn State will also add expiration dates to the IDs it issues. In the meantime, students will get stickers confirming their enrollment.

Stickers on IDs will be acceptable, says Ron Ruman, spokesman for the Pennsylvania’s Department of State.