In 2008, the U.S. Supreme Court in a widely cited opinion said states could require voters to show photo identification at the polls to guard against fraud. But that decision was not the last word on voter ID. In Wisconsin, two judges recently issued injunctions against that state’s voter ID law, saying it presented real hurdles to casting a ballot. Missouri’s state Supreme Court struck down the photo ID requirement there. Now the state has a weaker ID law that allows voters to submit utility bills, bank statements, and other documents as identification, without a photo.
Court outcomes have swung so widely that legal experts are wary of predicting how Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court Judge Robert E. Simpson will rule later this month on a challenge to the state’s new voter ID law. Simpson heard seven days of testimony that wrapped up Thursday. “There are both factual and legal differences” from laws and court challenges in other states, said Richard L. Hasen, a professor at the University of California, Irvine, and author of The Voting Wars, which chronicles the fight over election laws starting with the battle between George W. Bush and Al Gore in 2000.
The Pennsylvania case has generated suspense, he added. “Pennsylvania is the only potential swing state that I’m aware of where the question of whether voter ID laws will be in place is uncertain this close to the election,” he said.
Full Article: Outcome of ID-law challenge hard to predict – Philly.com.