A Commonwealth Court decision Tuesday resolves the question of whether Pennsylvanians must present ID at the polls in November, but it hardly ends the state or national debate on the subject. In recent years, 30 states have put in place laws requiring voters to show some form of identification before casting a ballot, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. In 2012, 33 states introduced legislation to either implement voter ID or strengthen or amend previously passed laws. In many, like Pennsylvania, there has been great division over the need for such laws. And by confining the decision to the upcoming presidential election, Commonwealth Court Judge Robert Simpson Jr. ensured that the debate will continue in Pennsylvania.
Richard Hasen, professor of law and political science at the University of California, Irvine, said Simpson and the state Supreme Court seem to agree that requiring voter ID is allowed, as long as it is implemented fairly. “There seems little controversy about having an ID requirement in place once there is time for everyone to get the documentation,” he said.
But Keesha Gaskins, senior counsel for the Democracy Program at New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice, which has opposed the law, said Simpson’s ruling was just the latest example of such regulations being “overturned and pushed back in state after state after state.”
Full Article: Future of voter ID in other states is unclear.