Poll: Voters React to Voter ID Decision
Will this decision stick? Both sides had said they would appeal this ruling.
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The Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania upheld Pennsylvania’s controversial Voter ID law, but that’s not the end of the story. Simpson said he wouldn’t grant an injunction to stop the law requiring all voters to show a photo ID before voting.
At the conclusion of the hearing, both sides said they would appeal to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court if they lost. In this case, the loser is American Civil Liberties Union legal director Vic Walczak. He said the case isn't over, "It’s why they make appeals courts.”
Do you agree with the verdict? Leave a comment.
The ACLU and the NAACP claim voter ID laws disenfranchises voters, especially the elderly, the poor and minorities.
Proponents of voter ID laws, including State Senator Daryl Metcalfe (R-12th District) who introduced the Pennsylvania bill, say the law is meant to prevent voter fraud.
From the start, this issue has split Republicans and Democrats, and if it goes to the State Supreme Court, it could get the same reception. The Court has only six members now: three Republicans and three Democrats. The seventh Justice, Joan Orie Melvin, was suspended earlier this year on corruption charges. She is a Republican.
Wes Oliver, associate professor of law with Duquesne University School of Law, told PA Independent that in the case of a stalemate, the lower court’s decision sticks.
Steve Sears
10:57 pm on Friday, August 17, 2012
Hi Bill. I gather you do NOT know about the Republican Corporate Agenda known as ALEC. The Voter ID is one of the many concepts among the many developed by the Corporate run organization named ALEC. If you note this Voter ID law has been initiated in those states where the Republics have won the Governorship and the state Legislature - like here in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Iowa, Wisconsin, etc. The Corporate run ALEC has been working to create numerous agendas favorable to themselves for over eight years. If you want to learn more go to ALECEXPOSED.ORG. There's a list of State & Federal Legislatures who belong to ALEC. Senator Greenleaf was one of them until we persuaded him to quit. If you go to http://sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Legislators_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC you see Greenleaf's name and many others who have recently quit ALEC. We've also persuaded over 30 large companies to drop their membership - Amazon, Pepsi, etc. Go to http://sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Corporations_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC
and you'll find out more.
This PA VOTER ID is NOT a local initiative - it was conceived by ALEC and has been driven by Corbett and our Republican legislatures for the obvious reason to influence the 2012 election in favor of Romney. This is the Karl Rove "Win At Any Cost" philosophy.
Steve Sears
10:41 am on Wednesday, August 29, 2012
ALEC Goes After the Center for Media and Democracy
http://www.prwatch.org/node/11717
by Lisa Graves
The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) sent a message to hundreds of legislators across the country attacking the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD), the creator of ALECexposed.org. Among other things ALEC claimed, "CMD is an attack-dog, not a watch-dog." "First they ignore you. Then they ridicule you. And then they want to attack you and then you win." The message claimed that CMD "continue[s] to spread half-truths and lies" about ALEC in order to "weaken [ALEC's] resolve" and "create the false impression that companies are departing from ALEC." While ALEC is fighting CMD with misleading letters to its members and media smears, it is still shedding corporate board members, funders, and sponsors. And it is still getting hammered in the press for its extreme agenda and its corrupting influence, for the fact that corporate lobbyists vote as equals with elected officials on templates to change the law, and its repeated claims it does not lobby despite proof to the contrary. "As calls for investigation of ALEC's lobbying activities and financing practices mount (with three complaints now filed before the IRS and other ethics investigations at the state level), it will take more than Edelman PR and "combat journalism" to rescue ALEC from the trouble it is in. "