After working hard to pin a non-existent voter fraud scandal on the Democrats, which led to a wave of voter ID laws in several states, the GOP is now caught knee-deep with its pants down in a voter fraud scandal of epic proportions. Since then, the GOP has scuttled early voter registration in Colorado, Florida, Nevada, North Carolina and Virginia, all five being crucial swing states.
And BTW, it looks like you won't be needing photo ID to vote in Pennsylvania this election:
In response to a recent state Supreme Court remand, unanimously voiding his previous August ruling, Commonwealth Court Judge Robert Simpson, a Republican, issued his new ruling [PDF] today on the state GOP's polling place Photo ID restriction law. o He enjoined just a part of the law, but it effectively strikes down the most onerous provision of it --- but only for this November's Presidential election. There were also a number of troubling caveats with what he left in place, rather than striking down the entire statute as the petitioners had sought.
As there has been some confused and confusing reporting on the ruling today, here is where --- barring any additional court challenges --- the law stands at this moment, just over one month from Election Day...
Voters will NOT have to show a state-issued Photo ID at the polling place in order to cast a normal ballot. Poll workers MAY ask voters for Photo ID, but they may NOT keep them from voting if they do not have one. Voters will NOT have to cast a provisional ballot if they do not have state-issued Photo ID. Hopefully that clarifies the key points of today's ruling, which is being misreported in some quarters. o Also of note, the court refused to enjoin the Commonwealth's tax-payer funded $5 million ad campaign, as written into the statute for the purposes of "educating" the public about the polling place Photo ID requirement (even though it no longer practicably applies for this election.)
Not what everyone wanted or expected, but it's a start.
Meanwhile, yours truly awaits tonight's presidential debate. You can check 2012 Election Central for the latest details, including live streaming. As much as it pains me to do so, I'll refrain from mocking him until he starts actually making gaffes on live television. :)
