Heard in the Hall

Top Philly elections official says voter ID bill is 'hogwash'

Incoming Philly elections official opposes voter ID bill

78 comments

Top Philly elections official says voter ID bill is 'hogwash'

POSTED: Thursday, December 22, 2011, 5:47 PM

Miriam Hill

Don't look for incoming City Commissioner Stephanie Singer to back away from controversy.

On Thursday, she called the voter ID bill being considered in Harrisburg "hogwash from top to bottom." Actually, she first called it that on Tuesday when she called in to WHYY's Radio Times with Marty Moss-Coane. The show's guest was Carol Aichele, the Republican Secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, who backs the bill.

Singer, who as City Commissioner will oversee Philadelphia's elections, said poll workers already verify voters' signatures. Requiring ID, she added, would only cause many people not to vote.

Aichele countered that many poll workers are not trained to analyze handwriting.

Singer is a Democrat. We wondered what Al Schmidt, her Republican counterpart on the incoming City Commission would think, but we have not heard back from him yet.

Heard in the Hall is simply happy to hear any politician use the word hogwash. It's down right folksy for someone with a Yale degree.

Click here for Philly.com's politics page.

78 comments

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Comments (78)

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 6:08 PM, 12/22/2011

Well, that was a cute putdown, Miriam, of a legitimate and pressing concern expressed by Singer that goes to the heart of our democracy. I heard Aichele and what she said was, indeed, hogwash, although any number of other harsher derogatory terms could have been used. How about some coverage of the topic, not the descriptive word? Again, it's merely our democracy that's at stake.

Aichele was asked what's the evidence of the voter fraud that the ID bill is allegedly aimed at stopping. Her answer was that the fraudsters are very, very clever, so they've hid the evidence. Therefore, we must pass a bill that might keep thousands of legitimate voters from voting without any evidence. That's kind of like saying, well, ghosts are very clever and that's why you can't see them. But since from some mysterious reasoning process we know they're in the house somewhere, let's burn down a room. The room this bill is burning down contains the right to vote. That's no laughing matter.

— Stan Shapiro

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 7:10 PM, 12/22/2011

You are absolutely right Stan! Just think about those 20,000 dead people who won't be able to vote any more in Philadelphia if they don't show ID. Afterall it's pretty hard to get a good picture when you are in the afterlife.
One thing you did get correct is this does represent the heart of democracy, giving people the right to vote who actually have the right to vote (and only once by the way).

— cb54

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 11:46 PM, 12/22/2011

20,000, cd? Name one. But here's a name for you" Paul Summers. ONly person to be convicted of voter fraud in PA in a long time, just this past year. Guess what? He's a Republican, who filed fraudulent petitions with fake names, etc. Giving people the right to approve candidates without they're knowing it. And withotr photo ID. You are such a tool.BTW, stil waiting for yuou to name one.

— mike l

Comment removed.

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 9:35 PM, 12/24/2011

What are you talking about, drooler?

— glennsfb

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 6:26 PM, 12/22/2011

ID. I live here. And can prove it. Should be required for everyone. What is the problem?

— Ben Fan

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 6:35 PM, 12/22/2011

What is the reason? It's nice Ben Fran that you can prove it, but thousands of poor, old and disabled Pennsylvanians can't prove it with voter ID. However, they also live here and should have the right to vote. The right to vote has been held to be fundamental, without which other rights fail to exist. But that right disappears for totally eligible people under this law because it attempts to solve a problem that no one has evidence exists. That's just an attack on democracy not on voter fraud.

— Stan Shapiro

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 6:48 PM, 12/22/2011

Sorry. You live here, then get the evidence you do. Period.

— Ben Fan

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 11:51 PM, 12/22/2011

People do HAVE evidence, benny: bills, mail, bank statements, all with their names and addresses that match their SS cards.BTW, the governmor is crying poor mouth and has to cut millions from education, health, road work, etc., right? So, just where is he getting the millions it is going to cost, by his estimate, to produce photo IDs for everyone who wants them?

— mike l

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 6:36 PM, 12/22/2011

Throw away all IDs: driver's licenses, work IDs, school IDs, Police IDs, Postal Inspectors IDs, FBI and pilot's licenses, IDs for medical personnel, travel documents like passports and visas, etc. If voting is the right and duty of all concerned citizens; then everyone must make the minimal effort required to show proof of who you are. It will be for free for sure. Do we owe our country and our fellow citizens any less? Or should we take a page from the Democratic political handbook ala Chicago: "Vote early and vote often."?

— joedog

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 6:40 PM, 12/22/2011

Not everybody has a driver's license, passport, or credit card. My 84-year-old mom doesn't. Many older and poorer people don't. This bill is a Greed and Oil Party ploy to keep as many old and poor people out of the voting booths as possible because they tend to recognize GOP garbage from the stench a mile away and they also tend to vote Democrat. If they can't get out the vote, the GOP losers will simply keep it out, any way they can.

— bbk713