All of the headlines about Gov. Corbett’s budget have been about cuts, cuts, cuts — to higher education, cash assistance, even zoos. But believe it or not, Corbett’s proposal actually increases funding in a few areas.
Some of these boosts seem to fit with state Republicans’ agendas.
For instance, Corbett’s budget proposal provides $1 million in anticipation of a voter ID bill passing. This bill was introduced by state Republicans last year, but did not pass. It would have required that voters show a government-issued photo ID before being allowed to cast a ballot. Critics argued that the bill would disenfranchise senior and minority voters.
The governor’s budget office said that the $1 million would go to pay for the fact that, if such legislation passes this year, the state must provide free IDs to people who don’t have them but want to vote. The Corbett administration did not allocate any money for this last year, according to budget documents.
It’s worth pointing out that the left-leaning Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center estimates that such a bill would cost $11 million to implement.
Another area that gets more funding this year under Corbett's proposal is the state’s Alternatives to Abortion Services Program. The budget allocates more than $6 million to it, which is a slight boost from last year.
The relatively-unknown program, which is run by a contractor, funds counselors throughout the state who work to convince pregnant women not to have abortions. It is paid out of the Department of Public Welfare’s budget — which has otherwise seen massive cuts under the Corbett administration.
According to the 2010-12 agreement between the state and the contractor, the program's funding is also not “for the provision, referral or advocacy of contraceptive services, drugs or devices.”
There are other areas that got additional funds this year under Corbett’s proposal, though some of the increases seem to be out of the administration’s control. For instance, school employee retirement funding will go up from $600 million last year to more than $916 million. There is little the Corbett administration can do about rising pension costs because the state constitution prohibits cutting pension benefits for existing or retired teachers and state employees.
Corbett’s budget proposal also increases funding this year to pay off the state’s debt. And it gives more to block grants, which are aimed at providing more flexibility to local governments (though they also lead to reduced funding in some areas, like human services), among other things.
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- Here's your answer - it is a waste of time and the Bush DOJ and the Brennan commission both agreed that voter fraus is negligible nationwide. So your 1 in 8 is garbage. Funny how Gov Gasbag can't find funding for education,but he can find money for a phony ID project, Of course,he's only allocating a $million, where all estimates say it will cost like 10 times as much. Guess who will have to pay the difference? You are right: there are several dead folks listed. You are wrong in that they vote. — mike l
- The report itself indicates that these "invalid" records are not used to vote as it states one of the criteria for being classified as invalid is the fact that the record been inactive from 2004 thru 2011, meaning no voting, no contact. Furthermore the findings of "no longer valid" includes a person on the rolls who is not eligible to vote because they have moved is in itself incorrect and contrary to Federal law. The National Voter Registration Act of 1995 provides that counties cannot cancel or "remove" names from the files merely because the voter has moved. The law requires an extensive and time consuming process to attempt to cponfirm the move and update the record. The law also provides that during the mail confirmation process these voters be designated inactive and remain in the files of eligible voters for 2 1/2 - 3-1/2 years after the mailing of the address confirmation. These Inactive voters, still on the eligible files, are permitted to vote, (in PA at their old address) after updating their address at the polls on election day. Federal law prohibits removal of names merely because someone does not vote. The agrument in Congress was that you do not lose your right to Free Speech just because you do not speak out you, so a record should not be canceled and a person lose their right to vote because they failed to vote in prior elections. Philly's administration of these Federal Fail-Sagfe voting provisions was affirmed by the US Third Circuit in Welker bv Clarke. — ElecFact
- As far as 1.8 million deceased on the roles -you will always have some deceased on the rolls. The Pew vendor used data exports which are only a snapshot in time.
County govt offices submit deceased records to the Commonwealth every 30 days. The State Dept of Health and Dept of State has about another 30 days to compile the data, load it into the State registration system and transmit it to the county registration workstations for removal from the State registration system files - minimum 60, possibly 75 days after death. As Pew states -there is NO notification system for individuals registered in one state who die in a different state.
The voter files are updated daily. Records of deceased are canceled upon receipt of electronic info in the system from the Commonwealth or verified notification from relatives.
Does the 1.8 million represent the number of registered in the US who die in a 60 - 75 day period for whom the more than 3,000 county registration offices have not yet been notified? Given the US Census estimate of 1 death every 13 seconds the delay in obtaining the info could easily account for 400,000 to 500,000 of the 1.8 million.— ElecFact - So you'll spend more money to convince people to have babies, then cut off the money they might get to raise them. Brilliant.— HazmatCorntail
- Mythical massive voter fraud which every single voting organization says is a nonissue in the US including the study by Pew that Cleanup listed:
"Even though the inaccuracies impact one in eight registrations, researches at the Pew Center on the States said they don't see it as an indicator of widespread fraud. Rather, they believe outdated systems are failing to keep pace with the most basic changes in people's lives, feeding perceptions that U.S. elections are not as airtight as they could be."
So inaccurate rolls is somehow equal to large-scale voter fraud. I heard this same garbage on Faux News today.
— PhillyGuy77 
Comment removed.- See, someone shoots down your "fact" and you could care less. Of course, it would ruin you myth. Love how righties can't face real facts, the ones they don;t make up. Sorry, dude, fraud is not rampant. Howver, here ius a true fact: the only person convicted of voter fraud in PA in a generation was a Republican from DelCo last year. How about that? Guess there is widespread fraud in the republican party. — mike l
- $6m for a contractor to try and convince women to not have abortions? How many consultations do they make a year? Let's see a cost per patient seen! If you want to "fight" voter fraud then tighten up the registration process. I read that about 1 in 8 voter registrations has significant problems.— meteo30
- I'm sorry, but if you can't provide a state-issued ID, I don't know if you deserve to vote. This is not targeting seniors or minorities. Get your driver's license or ID card. I find it offense that people think seniors and minorities have some inherrent issue that specificly makes them unable to reasonanly have an ID. Getting an ID is not hard, not expensive, and does not require a lot of time. We have so many ID programs in this country. It's not 1912 any more. This is not difficult. If you DON'T carry ID with you at all times in this era, that probably points to a bigger issue. We need to stop acting so helpless and be responsible for ourselves.— NickFromGermantown
- "So you'll spend more money to convince people to have babies, then cut off the money they might get to raise them. Brilliant." --- Or maybe we force people to take some personal responsibility for their own actions.— psyrus
- government forcing a change in social behavior is often futile. — Patriot72
- The city government has been doing just that for years. Transfats? Calorie counts on menus? School lunches? The Dems did it will little to no resistence. I am talking about dropping funding not creating more laws. — psyrus
- I like Corbett...a lot!— kelprod2
- Discouraging both the destruction of human beings and voter fraud are positive approaches to common problems, refreshingly different from those offered by our federal government.— Jean Valjean
PHILADELPHIA HORROR STORY
PILE OF BOTTLES FILLED WITH URINE
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http://www.myfoxdc.com/dpp/news/politics/study-1-in-8-us-voter-registrations-have-errors-021412
As many as 1 in 8 voting records in the US have serious errors or are fully in error. 1.8 million people who are dead are registered to vote. Wonder how that breaks down by state?