Even though the voter-ID bill is a fix in search of a problem, its otherwise cost-conscious Republican backers in Harrisburg are prepared to squander from $5 million to $11 million a year to set up the additional bureaucracy needed to provide non-drivers with special identification.
The state Senate’s supposed broadening of the forms of ID to be required at the polls doesn’t make this proposal any more acceptable, since the inevitable delays that will occur on Election Day while people’s documents are being checked could disfranchise other voters who will be turned away.
Similarly, the proposed option that would allow challenged voters to reappear within six days at their county board of elections bearing photo identification is no reassurance, since it’s hard enough for many people to get to the polls in the first place.
For Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi (R., Delaware) to link this outrageous version of a new poll tax to “the very foundation of our democracy” demonstrates a depth of cynicism that’s astounding.
Corbett earlier demonstrated there are limits to the extent to which he would join such a blatant power grab when he backed away from the goofy idea of apportioning the state’s Electoral College votes. He should show the same common sense by vetoing any version of a voter-ID law that reaches his desk.
If the governor won’t do that, let the legal challenges begin.
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