In a late-night session rife with on-the-floor outbursts last week, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives approved a bill thought by many to disenfranchise Democratic voters.
The House voted June 23 in favor of Rep. Daryl Metcalfe’s (R-12th Dist.) measure that would require voters to show government-issued identification each time they go to the polls.
The bill has been vastly opposed by progressives who see it as preventing marginalized communities such as the elderly, racial minorities, the disabled and others from exercising their right to vote, as these are the populations who most often don’t have a government-issued photo ID. The impact such a law would have on transgender voters is also in question.
The 108-88 vote went largely down party lines in the Republican-controlled House, with all Democrats voting in opposition, joined by one Republican, Rep. Chris Ross (158th Dist.). The Senate will likely take up the measure in the fall.
Legislators debated the bill for nearly 10 hours before its passage, and the dialogue was a boisterous one, said Andy Hoover, legislative director of the Pennsylvania American Civil Liberties Union, which opposed the bill.
“It was a loud and raucous debate, which we don’t always see in the House of Representatives or the Senate,” Hoover said. “So it was nice to see quite a few members pushing back against this bad idea.”
Metcalfe has said the bill, the implementation of which is expected to cost about $10 million in poll workers, conducting public-education campaigns about the changes and processing of provisional ballots, is meant to cut down on voter fraud, although critics have pointed out that there have only been four cases of voter fraud in recent years.
State Rep. Babette Josephs (D-182nd Dist.), sharply condemned the GOP’s intentions in a statement.
“House Republicans have pushed for this bill as a way to suppress the vote,” she said, calling the bill a “bald-faced effort” to prevent Democratic-leaning voters from going to the polls. “They say they’re just asking everyone to show proof of their identity, just like you do to make sure a person is old enough to buy cigarettes or drink alcohol, but the truth of the matter is that not everyone has a valid photo ID. If they don’t have photo ID — or even forget to bring theirs to the polling place, they could not vote. That is abhorrent. Voting is a constitutional right. No one died for the right to buy cigarettes. No one died for the right to drink alcohol. People have died for the right to vote.”
Democrats offered more than 120 unfriendly amendments, with Republicans defeating some and the rest being withdrawn.
Hoover noted that, while the House vote was unfortunate, it did reflect some recent progress: When a similar measure passed six years ago, it did so by a much wider margin, with 135 votes in favor.
“We knew it was going to be a struggle to get enough ‘no’ votes in the House and the vote clearly wasn’t an easy one, but the supporters didn’t steamroll, which is a good thing,” he said.
Then-Gov. Ed Rendell vetoed the 2005 bill, but Republican Gov. Tom Corbett has said he will sign the measure.
The bill includes an exemption for those with religious convictions against having their photograph taken.
Jen Colletta can be reached at [email protected].