Advocacy groups pushing colleges to issue IDs so students can vote
SOME PENNSYLVANIA colleges have been issuing new identification cards that will enable students to vote in the November election under the state's new voter-ID law, a consumer advocacy organization plans to announce Wednesday.
SOME PENNSYLVANIA colleges have been issuing new identification cards that will enable students to vote in the November election under the state's new voter-ID law, a consumer advocacy organization plans to announce Wednesday.
The organization, PennPIRG, found in April that student IDs at 95 of 110 college campuses in Pennsylvania were not compliant with the new regulations, which require IDs to have a photo and expiration date.
Only 15 campuses had expiration dates. Student IDs at a few colleges did not contain even photos, PennPIRG said.
After the survey, a coalition of organizations, including the ACLU, Rock the Vote and the Committee of Seventy, encouraged colleges to notify students about the law. That prompted some colleges to issue new ID cards or stickers with expiration dates, PennPIRG said.
A spokeswoman for the group would not disclose Monday the universities that have made the changes. Temple University was one of the schools to issue new IDs with an expiration date.
Some voting-rights advocates have worried that the new law will disenfranchise young, mostly Democrat-voting students because they are less likely to have driver's licenses or nondriver ID cards than the general population.
Contact Sara Khan at 215-854-5713 or khans@phillynews.com.