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Voter ID bill could rob Philadelphians' vote, cost Philadelphia hundreds of thousands of dollars
A bill that could pass today would require the presentation of photo identification at the polls, and, in the process of potentially disenfranchising thousands of poor, elderly and city-dwelling citizens, would likely cost the city hundreds of thousands of dollars. Now, the question is: Why?
Voter ID bill could rob Philadelphians' vote, cost Philadelphia hundreds of thousands of dollars
Over protests, petitions and objections by Democrats, House Bill 934 passed out of Senate committee Monday and is headed for a vote today — meaning that, by the time primaries come around in April, Pennsylvania is expected to have a new voter ID bill on its hands. The bill would require the presentation of photo identification at the polls, and, in the process of potentially disenfranchising thousands of poor, elderly and city-dwelling citizens, would likely cost Philly hundreds of thousands of dollars. Now, the question is: Why?
Jeff Garvis, field director of Pennsylvania Voice, is one of many who doesn't buy the surface-level response that Gov. Tom Corbett is concerned about voter fraud, noting that he never prosecuted a voting fraud case as Pennsylvania Attorney General, and that Secretary of the Commonwealth Carol Aichele conceded in a hearing that there had been "no reports" of fraud. A more likely motivation: keeping Philly voter turnout down — a goal Corbett has laid out before. Says Garvis:"I think that's the key to why Gov. Corbett is pushing this. For a Republican to win statewide office, he needs to keep that turnout down in Philly." The bill is expected to impact Philadelphia disproportionately because Philly has many people without drivers licenses, as well as low-income individuals.
That's the sense on the Democratic side of the aisle as well. Democratic State Sen. Daylin Leach told the Inquirer:
"This is about nothing else than vote-rigging in Pennsylvania — trying to disenfranchise voters who vote the wrong way from the perspective of the people who support this bill. This is about Republicans saying, 'We don't like to lose elections, so how can we stop that from happening?' "
There apparently wasn't enough support in the Senate to move the legislation forward after it was passed out of the House last June, but now Gov. Corbett seems determined to get this bill passed before election time. In the meantime, the amendment process has seen the expansion of what's considered an acceptable form of ID: municipal employee ID cards and college IDs have been added, while other changes may occur today.
Those changes could make the law somewhat more forgiving, but it will still create a logistical nightmare for voting authorities and could cost the state $11 million this year alone, according to a projection from the Pennsylvania Budget & Policy Center. Jorge Santana of City Commissioner Stephanie Singer's office says the "unfunded mandate will cost a lot for us to implement." Singer wrote in an op-ed, "HB 934 offers to misuse dollars from the federal Help America Vote Act intended to remove barriers to voting for the explicit purpose of making it harder for Pennsylvanians without a photo ID to vote."
Among the unfunded costs: Santana says that training is mostly complete for the city's 8,000 election board workers, who may now have to be retrained; informational mailers may have to be sent out to each registered voter in the city (more than one million altogether); and additional poll workers will be needed to oversee implementation. "We don't have this in our budget. It's almost impossible, given that the election is just a month away."
Once the bill is passed out of the Senate, the City Commissioners will be able to assess the actual cost of implementing it for this election cycle.
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