Voter ID Decision: Radnor Reaction

The Commonwealth Court ruled Wednesday morning not to stop Pennsylvania's controversial , one of the strictest in the nation, from going into effect.

Opponents of the law say it disproportionately targets the elderly, poor and minorities, who typically vote Democrat.

Read the full Voter ID decision here.

A “partisan hack opinion” is what State Senator Daylin Leach called the judge’s opinion on speakerphone to members of the Radnor Democratic Party at their meeting Wednesday night.

Leach said a late September or early October decision on the appeal by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court is anticipated, but “in the meantime getting people IDs is a good thing to do… If we work really hard maybe we’ll get 10 percent of people who need IDs IDs.”

He said that there are many people who think they have a valid ID for voting, but come November 6 they may not be able to vote.

The people who may be turned away from polling places in Radnor may be those who have moved in from out of state and are still using their old driver’s license, said Alan Brink, chair of the Radnor Republican Party, who said the law is “a step in the right direction.”

“You have to put out an ID to do darn near anything,” he said. Brink said it may be correct in some places to say that there are no documented cases of voter fraud, “but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t go on and is more prevalent than should be.”

In Radnor “the purging of the voter rolls is so imperfect that there are incredible opportunities to commit fraud,” he said. “I will feel a lot better with voter IDs.” Brink said he could not see how people could not reasonably comply with the law.

But the attitude was very different back at the Radnor Democrats meeting.

Ed Kennedy, Judge of Elections and Democrat Committeeman in Radnor's First Ward, called the law voter suppression: "I don't think people should vote for the party that suppresses black voters in Pennsylvania in 2012."

His reasoning: people without Pennsylvania driver's licenses or US Passports or birth certificates will have difficulty complying with new Voter ID requirements. They are more likely to live in urban areas, be lower-income, and either older voters, newer arrivals, or more transitory. They are more likely to be black or hispanic. And according to the Democrats, more likely to vote for President Barack Obama.