The latest on the Pennsylvania voter ID law

Hour One

Last week, for the second time since August, Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court Judge Robert Simpson heard arguments in a challenge to Pennsylvania voter ID law, enacted last March. Proponents of the law say having photo identification at the polls will prevent voter fraud, and those against it see the law as a political move to keep the elderly, those with disabilities and the poor from casting their ballots. Judge Simpson upheld the law this summer, despite challenges by civil rights groups to block to the act, saying the plaintiffs did not show that “disenfranchisement was immediate or inevitable.” Those opponents of the law appealed his decision to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, which ordered the case back to Judge Simpson.  We’ll hear about last week’s proceedings, and what it means to the voters of the commonwealth in meeting requirements to vote on November 6^th. Our guests are CAROL AICHELE, Pennsylvania Secretary of Commonwealth, JENNIFER CLARKE, Executive Director of the Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia, and WITOLD “VIC” J. WALCZAK, Legal Director of ACLU-PA.

Listen:
[audio: 100212_100630.mp3]

Photo Credit: AP Images / Keith Srakocic