Several voters received a mail piece Monday – marked as paid for by the Pa. Department of State – which gives inaccurate information about identification requirements at the polls.
“Under a new law, voters are required to show an acceptable photo ID with a valid expiration date when voting on November 6.”
The requirement referred to in the piece was put on hold by a Pa. judge in October. Other public education efforts by the state were adjusted to note the fact that voters would be asked – but not required – to show ID.
But this mailer contains no such disclaimer.
State Sen. Daylin Leach is the chairman of the Senate Democratic Campaign Committee, a spokesman for whom sent the mailer to PoliticsPA. He said so far he had only heard of voters in Harrisburg who had received the piece.
He called the piece, “a blatant attempt at voter suppression.”
“I don’t want to jump to conclusions, but it’s troubling. We don’t know who sent this or why. If this is an attempt at voter suppression, whoever did this should go to jail,” he said.
Update: DOS spokesman Ron Ruman said the mailer was sent out in mid-September, before the injunction.
“We did a mailing of which this appears to be a part between Sept. 14 and 21. The Harrisburg area mailing was done Sept. 19. This mailing was done well before the Oct. 2 Commonwealth Court ruling that put the voter ID law on hold for this election. However, we have done no mailing since Sept. 21,” he said.
“We are looking into this issue. If it is one voter or a few who received this late, it could be an instance of an error by the post office. If it is something else, we will turn over any information we have to the proper law enforcement authorities for investigation.”
If it’s a mistake, like pre-sorted mail that was printed and set aside months ago, Leach said, “Oopsie isn’t enough.”
Here’s the back of the mailer:
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11 Responses
A woman at Susquehanna Twp. 5 (?), I believe, brought this piece of literature with her. I told her to keep it and let the Senate Democrats know about it. I really hope that this is investigated and that if it was purposeful that at the very least someone loses their job.
I was asked for ID. It was explained that it was a test run for future elections.
The lines are running over 1 1/2 long.
Good to see this level of interest, even if I am very concerned about the result.
Common sense tells me. If you suppress the Philly vote, you raise the prospects of National and Statewide GOP candidates. This is what Herr Turzai spoke to in his moment of candor.
I just voted, and no one at the polls said anything about id. But, then again, I live in a Republican precinct in a Republican county. No need to suppress votes here.
This is the problem with voter id. It doesn’t affect everyone equally (for some an id is no problem, for others a huge hassle).
Tommy, the intent to implement it in a presidential year was to use federal funds to advertise it. Where is your evidence of an intent to suppress the black vote? The ACLU certainly didn’t have any such evidence.
The attempt to have it implemented in a presidential year was to eliminate the black vote in Philly. It was designed to deliver PA for Romney as its main proponent said himself.
If you want ID, allow people time to get it and remove the financial obstacles and logistical barriers to doing it. Under those circumstances, I would not oppose it.
Sceptic23, that’s what the poll worker said to me too. They don’t have to spend time asking how to spell someone’s name if an ID is presented. This speculation about voter suppression has been rejected by a judge and is utter nonsense.
The Lady at my polling place thanked me for showing my ID she said” it makes finding and spelling your name so much easier for us” and I noticed it decreased the time it took to get us through the line considerably. This meant more people could vote more convieniently if they were eligible. I do believe that making ID’s mandatory is suppression but only of Fraud.
There’s a bunch of people in the Corbett administration, including Tom, who are getting nervous. They better hope that their boy Freed wins or they will spending lots of $$$ on criminal defense attorneys.
#indicttomcorbett
@ PoliticsPA and Senator Leach: If you would like to cover some real voter suppression please note the Black Panthers are back in Philly keeping away GOP poll watchers. How long before your site reports on that??
All the more reason to elect Kathleen Kane !!!