After our coverage of the confusing and mixed messages from Pennsylvania's official VotesPA campaign, Steve in Philly writes to point out the elections website in suburban Montgomery County.
Toward the bottom, the site says, "Pennsylvania's newly adopted Voter ID Law will not take effect until the November 2012 Election." That is not true anymore -- as of Tuesday, a state judge put that law on hold. But there the misinformation is:
Steve also points out the county's link to a "Voter ID flyer."
That goes to a pdf, which, as you can see, tells voters, "Be prepared to vote on November 6th. You MUST present one of the following forms of PHOTO ID when you go to your poll to vote." Again, that's not true.
Steve writes:
"I'm a lawyer, and a colleague and I each separately called and said they wouldn't take it down because it was 'still appealable" and it would stay up their until their (presumably Republican) solicitors told them to do so."
"I asked, 'So if it's a 90 day period to appeal, you'll keep it there until January?' The woman on the phone said, 'Yes.' "
For what it's worth, when I called just now, they told me, "It is going to be the law. It's just not for this election." Which, again, is not what the county website says. Also, for what it's worth, the county election commission lists two Democrats and one Republican.
However fast Pennsylvania officials are moving toward letting voters know they don't need ID, they've got a lot of ground to cover, and so far, they're not covering it.
UPDATE: This afternoon, Montgomery County pulled from its website the line about the voter ID law taking effect, along with the link to the flyer that said ID was mandatory in order to vote.
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Pennsylvania: Philadelphia and Pittsbug, with Alabama and Mississippi in the middle.
Former Phila Inquirer columnist Steve Lopez (with deliberate sarcasm): "Welcome to Pennsylvania - land of giants!"
;-(
I just made 2 phone calls to local representatives in Montgomery County asking them to remove the language. We'll see what happens.
Are they elected officials? Are you ready to campaign against them if they ignore your advice?
Our elected officials have come to the conclusion that they are not our servants but our bosses. Time to change that.
Ugh. Keep pushing! It's the best hope.
If you can't win honestly, cheat. Everybody does it. And just look how bad this nation has gone down morally, it's those gays.
/snark/
If you want to beat up Obama or Romney, do it in the ring with a free game, it's fun,easy and free. Not to mention that you can donate to your favorite candidate, fight the polls and your opponents with this.
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/politicalarena/id556073177?mt=8
Here's another piece of misinformation that this site and Rachel keep reiterating - It's a PHOTO ID that has been struck down NOT ID. We can still be asked to show ID - the same ID that we have always been asked for. Typically, you only showed the ID when voting at new polling place (my experience) but YES, PA has always had to show ID to connect you to your address which could be a lease; electric bill etc. but did not require a photo. This new law limited what could be shown to not only must be a PHOTO but must be a specific kind of PHOTO ID.
The PHOTO ID is not effective for THIS election but the law still stands for the next election.
So please stop telling PA voters that they are not required to show an ID because I believe the next GOP tactic will be to cause confusion by asking for an ID at the polls. If people think they don't have to show it, they won't bring it. I've told people I know to be sure they DO have some ID with them even though they have not moved nor been asked for it ever before.
I don't anticpate a problem where I vote, but I'm in a Democratic stronghold section of NE Philadelphia. I believe, for me, it will be status quo, but I do intend to have an ID on me when I go - and if there should be a problem I'm taking names and pictures! I might even take my digital voice recorder - might come in handy!
Did you even look at the lower screen capture from the site that specifies "photo id"? Read the whole article before going off on a rant why don't you?
It has always been my experience, in Pennsylvania, that if you are a first time voter or if you have moved into a new voting district you are asked to show ID to match you to their roster. Prior to this Photo ID Law, I have been asked for Photo ID/DL twice for that reason.
I still believe, to be safe, that people should be asked to bring ID "just in case". Be prepared. Know your rights and be sure to get the name/s of anyone you feel may harass you at the polls and report it.
So call the Democrats on the board and get them active...
I got an e-mail response from Josh Shapiro's office. They said they will take care of it...let's see. Josh is a good guy and was on NPR the other day discussing the whole voter ID issue. He has been involved in the issue so I hope his office resolves this.
Does the court order mean that Pennsylvania follow the letter and the spirit of the ruling? If so it would be reasonable for the judge to order a massive public service campaign, ie hourly reminders that ID is not required on all tv channels in Pa and newspaper ads reporting the same. Add a fine for each gov't phone message and web site not in compliance.to be paid by the office of the highest legal authority in PA, estimated by say $10,000 for each possibly disenfranchised voter.
I have always shown a photo ID to vote. Simply, it is the easiest form of ID that I have. This year, I am not doing it. I am using a paycheck as my identification. I am also taking the law that says the paycheck is legal identification... just in case.
I don't know what kind of point I am going to make, but I am going to make one.
PA is looking more and more like an Ohio 2004!
Hey - they changed it. The link to the PDF is also gone.
I also just looked at the PAvotes website that Rachel profiled last night and that has changed also. It no longer says "Show It". As a Pennsylvanian I feel a little bit better.
Shame the voters don't care. What's that line "When governments fear the people there is liberty. When the people fear the government there is tyranny."
— Thomas Jefferson
The director of my non-profit organization got an obscene phone call last night. The organization and herself have been working hard to improve Pennsylvania's voting machines and promote the use of paper ballots v. paperless voting machines. The organization I work for is VOTEPA (the nonprofit) not VOTES PA (which is the Department of State). We have been trying to call MSNBC about the error but it has not been successful so far. Look at the top of our homepage.
The Website is:
www.votepa.us
*Please visit the website to get a proper prospective of our organization, who knows you might even want to join us or donate
-Adam; adamkubizna.com
Are you certain it was not a right winged loon ticked off at your effort to get more trustworthy voting? It sure sounds like one of them to me.
Maybe, that is a good point...
@Adam: Wow! people ought to worry about those voting machines, no one ever talks about them.. they're "ten times more dangerous than voter fraud".
I agree. So tell us all how we can get them to remove these machines. I mean after all who runs the country? We the people have stood by while a select few managed to gain control of our party our polls and our lives. Why do we sit while the fanatics worm their way into position on committees and into jobs that give them power? Why have we not pushed for real democracy?
Now excuse me the Braves are playing somewhere.
I am a Montgomery County Pa Democrat. I watch your show every night but I need to take issue with your using my county as an example for this segment. The facts are that the ruling still has a chance of appeal and the law wasn't defeated just delayed. It also allowed the asking for the ID at the poll.
Montgomery County just turned into a Democratic County last election (the only one in the Philadelphia suburbs). It now has more d registrations and 2 of the 3 Supervisors(one has to be of the opposite party by law). It's claim to fame however is that it found a way around the law and had opened places to get ID all around the county so our voters could get theirs in time.
Now while your premise is correct I can assure you with almost 1000 calls out of many small areas of the county per day and our tables at township events etc. people will know in this county about their right to vote.
I f you ask almost anyone in politics in Pa the most important area to win is the Phila suburbs for US senate and Governor It also has been a high viability area for Presidential campaigns until this year where the State is being ignored (next week we will have surrogates giving speeches at the local colleges however) and these folks will be informed.
Thanks for writing int, @mattress. We'd love to hear more about your working getting the word out. To be clear, in the post above, we say that Montgomery County has two Democrats and one Republican on the commission -- "Also, for what it's worth, the county election commission lists two Democrats and one Republican." I don't think the commission's makeup was mentioned in the segment on TV.
What I find interesting is how hard it is to un-ring the bell. Reach all the counties and all the towns, and most importantly, all the voters, with the new information is a huge task. Pennsylvania elections officials have a real challenge, and so do people working hard like you. I'm interested to hear much more about it.
Thanks for exposing these clowns, it's good to know it's reporters out there that actually do stories that matter.