Student ID policy will not change with voter ID delay

On Tuesday, Commonwealth Court Judge Robert Simpson delayed Pennsylvania’s controversial voter ID law until after the Nov. 6 presidential election.

According to Vice President for Student Affairs Roger Serr, SU will not be changing any of the procedures involving ID that were previously put in place and communicated to students.

The ruling comes after the same judge found the law unconstitutional, which led to an appeal to the state Supreme Court. The Supreme Court sent it back down to the Commonwealth Court for review and sent guidelines to follow to determine if the state has kept voters from being disenfranchised by the law.

Simpson could not be sure that the state was prepared to provide everyone with ID in time for the election. The decision was based on the Supreme Court guidelines and the testimonies of Pennsylvania residents who struggled to obtain proper ID from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT).

This is a six-month-old law that has caused a lot of debate throughout the state and the country, and is among the strictest of voter ID laws in the U.S.

Gov. Tom Corbett and republicans passed the law to allegedly combat voter fraud. After it was signed into law, it was found that there were no cases of voter fraud in Pennsylvania in recent years, and state Rep. Mike Turzai hinted that the law will allow Mitt Romney to win the state.

This finding caused furious opposition to the law, and has generated a lot of volunteers for the Democratic Party, as well as a 175-group Voter ID Coalition.

In Simpson’s ruling, the law must be delayed until after the presidential election, but will take effect in 2013. This raises expectations for another post-election voter ID fight in Pennsylvania.