A Pennsylvania senator has introduced legislation that would allow voters to obtain an absentee ballot without justification.
Sen. Judy Schwank, D-Berks, said Senate Bill 1171 would amend the election code to extend the absentee ballot processes to all voters, while Senate Bill 1172 would amend the state Constitution to make clear that the processes could be extended to all voters.
A Republican proposal to make Pennsylvania voters produce government-issued photo identification at the polls moved a step from a final vote Tuesday in the state House with the defeat of a succession of proposed Democratic amendments.
Majority Republicans used sheer numbers and parliamentary maneuvers to turn aside proposed exemptions for victims of domestic violence or people with mental and physical disabilities, to have voting information printed in Spanish, or to provide additional information to voters about the change in law.
It was the second straight day the House's floor action was dominated by the voter ID bill, promoted by its supporters as a way to help ensure the integrity of the voting process in the state.
A Republican proposal to make Pennsylvania voters produce government-issued photo identification at the polls moved a step from a final vote Tuesday in the state House with the defeat of a succession of proposed Democratic amendments.
Majority Republicans used sheer numbers and parliamentary maneuvers to turn aside proposed exemptions for victims of domestic violence or people with mental and physical disabilities, to have voting information printed in Spanish, or to provide additional information to voters about the change in law.
It was the second straight day the House's floor action was dominated by the voter ID bill, promoted by its supporters as a way to help ensure the integrity of the voting process in the state. Democrats have argued there is no evidence the state has a significant problem with voting fraud, and warned the bill would needlessly impose a new barrier to voters.
With a controversial voter identification bill set for approval by the Pennsylvania House, Democrats and advocacy groups from Philadelphia and around the state voiced concern that the move could end up hurting voter turnout.
House Democrats and Republicans debated the legislation for more than seven hours Monday and Tuesday. With a Republican majority in the House, the bill passed a key hurdle Tuesday night and is expected to win final approval as early as Wednesday and be sent to the Senate. The action reflects a national trend - spurred by conservatives who won office in the 2010 midterm election - toward stricter election laws.
It’s been put off for this week, but when lawmakers return from recess they’ll likely take up debate on a law requiring voters to show photo ID at the polls. We took a look at arguments for and against the bill when it was introduced. Today, we take a look at the politics.
Each party is digging in, and each sees itself with the upper hand in the battle for public opinion.
The measure, introduced by State Rep. Daryl Metcalfe and most popular among conservatives and tea partiers, aims to tackle voter fraud. Proponents say the bill would eliminate voting by people not registered, people voting multiple times, illegal immigrants voting and most of the horror stories they hear about elections in inner-city Philadelphia.
South Greensburg Councilwoman Linda Iezzi on Wednesday refused to concede in her race to secure one of two Democratic nominations for Westmoreland County commissioner. "I have to talk to my lawyer," Iezzi said as she weighed a potential recount of votes cast in the May 17 primary.
The county Elections Board yesterday preliminarily certified the results of the race, declaring incumbent Commissioner Ted Kopas of Hempfield and Mt. Pleasant Mayor Gerald Lucia as winners of the Democratic primary for county commissioner. Lucia, the long-time mayor of Mt. Pleasant Borough and its fire chief, finished 74 votes ahead of Iezzi.
Bucks County lawyer Kathryn Boockvar was confirmed as the winner of the Democratic Commonwealth Court primary on Wednesday following an automatic recount. Boockvar beat Pittsburgh attorney Barbara Behrend Ernsberger by a margin of 0.3 percent, getting 311,732 votes to Ernsberger's 309,680. Boockvar will now face Republican and fellow Bucks County attorney Anne Covey in the general election this fall.
Pennsylvania Secretary of State Carol Aichele ordered the recount last month pursuant to Act 97 of 2004, which mandates that the votes be re-tallied whenever the margin of victory is less than 0.5 percent.
K. Kevin Murphy, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania Department of State, said last month that the estimated cost of a recount is nearly $500,000, based on $50 per ballot box multiplied by 9,248 districts.
A statewide recount for a Commonwealth Court seat is over, and Doylestown lawyer Kathryn Boockvar is the winner in the Democratic primary. The Department of State announced Wednesday that Boockvar won by a little more than 2,000 votes out of 621,000 cast.
The results show Boockvar defeated Pittsburgh lawyer Barbara Behrend Ernsberger by nearly the same margin that was reported in unofficial results shortly after the primary.
If Pennsylvania has a voting issue, it is that not enough people go to the polls. It isn’t with people trying to pass themselves off as someone else at the voting booth.
Nonetheless, lawmakers are expected this week to rigorously debate legislation aimed at stopping voter fraud, which is not a problem, by requiring all registered voters to present valid photo ID when going to the polls.
Presently, an ID is required when you vote at a new voting precinct for the first time.
The State House Could Vote as soon as Wednesday on a deeply divisive proposal requiring voters to show photo identification before they cast their ballots.
In anticipation, the chamber's Democrats gathered in the Capitol Media Center this afternoon to speak against the legislation, which they say is intended to suppress Democratic turnout and disenfranchise urban voters, college students and senior citizens.
The bill is a "solution in search of a problem," Rep Babette Josephs of Philadelphia said of the legislation sponsored by House State Government Committee Chairman Daryl Metcalfe, R-Butler.
About once a month on average since the beginning of the year, Republican-controlled states have approved laws requiring voters to show photo identification at the polls.
Kansas, South Carolina, Texas, Wisconsin, Tennessee — all have either adopted new requirements or expanded existing identification laws to specify photo IDs, pushing the total number of states that require them to 13. Sixteen other states require non-photo identification.
Pennsylvania — with its huge Republican gains in last year's midterm elections that included the governorship and control of both houses of the Legislature — is now poised to consider a photo ID bill. The House State Government Committee sent it to the floor and initial consideration could come as early as next week. Whether the state will join or buck the national trend is anyone's guess.
Election boards in Pennsylvania's 67 counties are poised to start recounting hundreds of thousands of ballots in a tightly contested statewide judicial primary race.
Secretary of the Commonwealth Carol Aichele on Thursday ordered a mandatory recount in the Democratic primary election for Commonwealth Court judge.
The Montgomery County Board of Elections recommended Voter Services’ director and assistant director be suspended without pay for misleading the Election Board about people mistakenly registered to vote.
On Wednesday, the Election Board voted 3-0 to recommend Director Joseph Passarella be suspended for two days without pay and Assistant Director Patricia Allen one day without pay.
Last week’s relatively problem-free Pennsylvania primary was the latest to demonstrate that requiring photo identification at the polls is a solution in search of a problem. People simply don’t risk prison time to impersonate other voters. In 2008, more than six million Pennsylvanians went to the polls for the presidential election, and only four were charged with misrepresentation.
So why did the House State Government Committee recently approve a bill to require photo ID of Pennsylvania voters, a program that would cost more than $11 million to initiate and millions more to run each year?
The county clerks responsible for administering the state’s elections say the legislation is a bad idea.
Boss Tweed likely would have had a good chuckle over proposals in Pennsylvania to require every person casting an election ballot to present photo identification. The legendary New York City political boss knew a thing or two about fraud and political smokescreens: two things at play in regard to the legislation being considered in the state House.
Reducing voter fraud at the ballot box is supposedly the main concept behind this idea. If every voter has to produce a photo issued by the state of Pennsylvania or the federal government — don’t you just feel better already — there will be no doubt the voter is who he or she says they are.
Hundreds of unregistered Montgomery County residents may have been allowed to cast ballots in the 2008 presidential election, the county’s chief election official said Wednesday.
And as Voter Services Director Joseph Passarella described it, that decision, made by a low-level staffer, eventually morphed into an unwritten policy that mistakenly added more than 3,000 people to the county’s voter rolls over the next three years.
The Democratic race for Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court judge could be headed for a recount. The decision on whether to tally the votes again will be made next week, when counties submit official returns to the Department of State.
A total of 603,801 Democratic voters supported either Kathryn Boockvar or Barbara Ernsberger Tuesday. Speaking Wednesday afternoon, Secretary of the Commonwealth Carol Aichele explained just how slim Boockvar’s unofficial 50.3 to 49.8 percent lead is. “Right now, as of about an hour ago, the difference between the two candidates was 2,794 votes, which is within the half of the 1 percent,” she said.
“Until we find out the results of that one machine, I’d rather not comment,” said Kaelin, last night.
In Tuesday’s primary, a voting machine malfunction left a cliff hanger in Glenolden which may not be resolved until sometime today at the earliest, according to officials. Eight candidates were competing for four four year seats on Interboro School Board.
It is unclear if long-time incumbent John Kaelin was defeated by a newcomer.
An effort to fight voting fraud could cost state taxpayers millions, though it’s a price some lawmakers are willing to pay. New requirements intended to cut down on fraudulent voters were passed by the House State Government Committee on Monday morning and will head to the House for a final vote. The bill would require voters to show official photo identification each time they go to their polling place to cast a ballot. Voters now have to provide identification only the first time they vote at a specific polling place.
The new requirement would not take effect until the primary elections in the spring of 2012, unless there is a special election scheduled for earlier in 2012.
A measure that would require voters to show photo identification when they go to cast their ballot now awaits consideration by the state House of Representatives, following a lengthy committee debate this morning.
The bill from Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, R-Cranberry and chair of the State Government Committee, passed the panel on a party-lines vote of 15-9. Under the proposal, voters would be required to show a photo identification card issued by either the state or federal government. Pennsylvania voters currently are only required to show an ID during their first time at a polling site.
Westmoreland County Election Bureau officials are trying to avoid a repeat of the long lines of voters who waited to cast ballots in the last presidential election. So the county has purchased 21 additional touch-screen computer voting machines to ease the crush of voters in the largest precincts.
“In the larger elections, such as a presidential race, I feel we need more machines in some of our larger precincts,” said bureau Director Jim Montini.
Last Wednesday, the Lancaster County Board of Elections approved a policy designed to remove media members from the county’s election center on election night and move them to an adjacent building.
The policy is intended to provide more space for voting materials in the warehouse at Burle Industries business park that serves as the county’s elections center, and provide reporters with an area in which they can work until all results are tabulated. Any change in election procedures is bound to arouse media concerns.