Editorial: State government’s voter ID laws unclear

On Oct. 30, political magazine Mother Jones reported on potentially misleading billboards about voter ID requirements in Pennsylvania. In early October, judges granted an injunction blocking enforcement of a law passed in March that required Pennsylvanians to present identification at the voting polls for the upcoming November election.

In the upcoming election, all voters will be asked to show ID, but they will still be allowed to vote if they don’t have it. This blurry distinction has led to a series of advertisements on public buses and billboards in urban areas, many of which target Latino voters. The first of these advertisements were published before the law was blocked, but they stayed on billboards for several weeks afterwards, according to Mother Jones.

One such misleading advertisement was on billboards through mid-October. It pictured a woman holding a Pennsylvania driver’s license, and it said, “Si quieres votar, muéstrala,” or “If you want to vote, show it.” These ads, which are funded by the Pennsylvania Department of State, have been largely replaced by ones that say variations of the phrase, “If you have it, show it” (both in English and in Spanish). These voter ID ads are also aimed at university students. One, also paid for by the Department of State, appeared on the back cover of The Pitt News on Oct. 23. The ad shows a student holding a generic university ID card, and large text reads, “This election day, if you have it, show it.” Smaller text explains that voters will be asked — not required — to show ID, and explains how people can obtain a state photo ID.

While the Department of State has said that it placed these advertisements to inform people that they will be asked for ID but not required to have it, we think it’s likely the new voter ID advertisements will have negative ramifications. We doubt that the ads’ messages are so clear that everyone who reads them will extrapolate that they will be allowed to vote without a photo ID, and as such, ads such as these might discourage people from casting their vote come Election Day.

Also, the state published many ads (including mailed-out fliers, billboards, bus ads, and TV ads, according to Mother Jones) before the law was overturned, and was slow in removing some of them. The state has not similarly advertised the change in the law — for example, they have not mailed out fliers, and the new billboards arguably lead to more confusion.

While billboards and bus ads are convenient because a lot of people see them, they typically aren’t ideal for the inclusion of follow-up information. Explanatory paragraphs or smaller text doesn’t make much sense on these types of signs, making them an inappropriate medium for an ambiguous message such as, “If you have it, show it.”

We wish that the state had chosen a concise, yet factual and clear alternative such as, “If you don’t have photo ID, you can still vote.” While an alternative like this probably wouldn’t encourage people to obtain photo ID, a separate campaign could be designed to help those without ID to secure one in the event that it’s required for a future election.

If anything, the State Department should be encouraging Pennsylvanians to vote by keeping them up-to-date on the process, not by circulating unclear messages that could decrease the chances they’ll turn out to the polls.