Voter ID law sent to lower court

The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania ordered a lower court to determine whether Pennsylvania voters…The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania ordered a lower court to determine whether Pennsylvania voters will have to present photo identification in order to vote in the upcoming election.

The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania ordered the Commonwealth Court to file a supplemental opinion on the voter ID law — which requires all voters to present a photo identification card at polling locations — to that of the Supreme Court’s by Oct. 2, roughly one month before the presidential election.

The decision calls for the Commonwealth Court to enter a preliminary injunction if it is “not still convinced in its predictive judgement that there will be no voter disenfranchisement arising out of the commonwealth’s implementation of a voter identification requirement for purposes of the upcoming election …”

One of the major contentions the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania and other groups presented in a lawsuit was that the law disenfranchises voters, and, in the statement, the court addressed this issue.

“While there is a debate over the number of affected voters, given the substantial overlap between voter rolls and PennDOT’s existing ID driver/cardholder database, it is readily understood that a minority of the population is affected by the access issue,” the statement said. “Nevertheless, there is little disagreement with Appellants’ observation that the population involved includes members of some of the most vulnerable segments of our society (the elderly, disabled members of our community, and the financially disadvantaged).”

The law was signed by Gov. Tom Corbett in March after passing the legislature with Republican support. As it stands, the law will remain in effect for the November election. The voter ID law has drawn significant attention because of Pennsylvania’s historic record as a battleground state in presidential elections.

Pitt students will be able to present their Pitt IDs at polling locations as a valid form of photo identification.