Corbett administration limits discussion on voter ID
State election officials tell Philadelphia commissioner she can't talk to PennDOT about its driver license data.
Corbett administration limits discussion on voter ID
BOB WARNER
Trying to get a handle on how many of Philadelphia voters may need help with the state’s new voter-ID requirements, city commission chair Stephanie Singer made arrangements last week for a telephone conversation with the state transportation secretary, Barry J. Schoch.
The subject was to be PennDOT’s data on driver’s licenses and non-driver photo ID. Singer said she wanted to compare Philadelphia’s list of registered voters with PennDOT’s lists – to figure out how many people should already have the picture IDs they need to vote next November, and identify those who do not.
Short of obtaining PennDOT’s data so she could run the comparison herself, Singer said she wanted to discuss PennDOT’s methodology for a similar comparison, now underway, a joint effort by PennDOT and the Pennsylvania Department of State.
But Singer never got Schoch on the phone.
The day before the scheduled call, Singer said she got a call from Megan Sweeney, an aide to Secretary of State Carol Aichele, telling her that the state did not want her talking to the PennDOT secretary.
“What she told me was, the Department of State was the point agency for all voter ID issues, and I should be talking to them,” Singer said. “She told me my call had been cancelled.…I was stunned.”
Just protocol, according to a spokesman for the Department of State, Ron Rumin.
“The situation is that the Department of State has been designated by the administration to be the point agency for this issue, and in particular, for dealing with county election officials, including Commissioner Singer,” Rumin said.
He said the state expected to complete its database work next week and send county commissioners throughout Pennsylvania a list of registered voters without driver’s licenses or non-driver ID.
“That will be helpful,” Singer said, but she expressed concern about not having a way to check the accuracy of the state’s data. “We want to make sure that when we get something, it will be something we can rely on,” she said.
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Anyone who makes under 250k a year is a moron if they vote republican. The greatest trick the devil ever did was convincing the world that he didn't exist. The devil is the RNC and how they used pr firms to convince the middle class to vote against its self interest..
Corbett was a failed state AG and he is now a failed state Governor. He's two for two.- Yeah, and chances are that he'll fail again by being voted in for another term by the faithful.
— Wednesday - This makes it absolutely clear that the Republicans are opushing voter id as a scheme to deliberately deprive legitimate voters of their right to vote in order to steal yet another presidential election. This is blatant obstruction of Singer's simply trying make sure that legitimate Philadelphia voters have the proper IDs. The Corbett administration needs to be criminally prosecuted under the Civil Rights Act for this illegal voter suppreassion.— Blanketman
- voter fraud has not been a significant issue in many years and even though i am sure dead people vote, it doesn't affect the outcome out elections. the real fraud is government's attempt to disenfranchise the Citizens, either by legislation like this, gerrymandering and second tier electronic voting machines with unreliable and suspect programming.— macho_tron
- Corbett is nothing but a bought-off shill for his gas and oil owners, and like any Saudi Arabian or UAE oil baron or oil-rich country government "official", this Stazi-wannabee will brook no challenge to his O-THORO-TY. His is owned lock stock and oil barrel, so don't waste your breath unless you can come up with more cash for his vacation and retirement accounts than his petro-daddies.— CiceroSpuriousDeodatus
- Corbett and his criminal administration will deny the state list BECAUSE the city wants to use the information to help voters get the now-necessary documentation.
IF it was a request from the state GOP that wanted to use the information in a "caging" operation to deny registered Democrats their right to vote, Gov. Gasbutt would personally deliver the information.
Protecting the integrity of elections has nothing to do with this. It is, and has always been, only about preventing people who might tend to vote Democratic from exercising our rights.— JeffJenk - I do not understand what the Big deal is about showing an ID. it is needed to survive in our world. you need it to open a bank account, you need it to drive a car, you need it to get cigerettes, and beer. you need it collect unemployment, ss, welfare. you need a SS # number to get a job. please I would love to see the list of ppl that do not have any of the above.— jmn1209
- I do not understand what the Big deal is about showing an ID. it is needed to survive in our world. you need it to open a bank account, you need it to drive a car, you need it to get cigerettes, and beer. you need it collect unemployment, ss, welfare. you need a SS # number to get a job. please I would love to see the list of ppl that do not have any of the above.— jmn1209
- Comment removed.
- Pennsylvania's Constitution is specific to "free and fair" elections. Requiring voters to purchase an I.D. by way of legislation at the tune of $20-$25, is in clear violation of our Constitution. Shall we return to the days of only landowners voting? Why fix what is not broken? Let's stick to the road of progress, not regress. FYI: The voter database is purged annually by the election officials, i.e., the deceased names are removed. Harrisburg cease and desist immediately from wasting my tax dollars on issues that only serve to block the vote in order that you may steal another election.— RepubesSuck
- The person who would like to see a list of people without a photo ID would fill volumes and the Department of State doesn't want people to know who they are!! Obfuscation is the name of the game besides disenfranchisement. I hadn't heard that a photo ID is required to breathe but that might be the next PA requirement.— cdarwin
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