It sounds like the judge dealing with the Pennsylvania Jim Crow law is going to do something stupid. Rather than place a broad injunction against enforcement of the law, he’s going to basically render it toothless. Under the law, if you cannot produce a valid state-approved photo identification, you can still cast a provisional ballot. Then you have six days to produce a valid photo ID. If you don’t, your provisional ballot will be tossed. It sounds like the judge realizes that the six-day window will wrongfully disenfranchise tens of thousands of (mostly) Democrats, so he’s probably going to say that provisional ballots should be counted.
This is stupid. It will dissuade people from voting, it will cause confusion, and it will skew the election night results in an extreme Republican direction. There is no reason to make people cast provisional ballots if their votes are automatically going to be counted. A ruling like this is still an attempt to sway the result of the election, including the perception of who won on election night.
Yet, it might be good enough to pass muster with the state’s Supreme Court.
you are on point, BooMan
…yuck!
It’s the only way the can win, lie, cheat, steal. After that what values have they got left?
They….
Don’t get mad – get even
Have you been disenfranchised by the new voter law? If so, get your ID and GET EVEN – vote against ALL REPUBLICANS in Nov.
Eric Holder is a complicated man, and no one understands him but his woman.
that is awesome for the picture alone.
we spent all of our time watching The Flip Wilson Show on TV and laughing at stuff that wasn’t really funny.
With these big-ass collars like you wouldn’t believe.
It’s not toothless- it is really just the same but even more conniving. Replay Florida 2000. Whoever screams first “We won!” does win. No matter that all the ballots aren’t counted yet!
Actually the requirement for a second trip after voting provincially-to the Board of Elections this time not the neighborhood polling place-makes it even more onerous and they know the odds of how many voters will make that trip. Perfect setup for a Wisonsin Republican Waukasha bag of ballots scavenger hunt! What makes them think that after the election the state will be able to produce valid voting IDs any faster?
If I am anticipating his ruling correctly, he is going to say the following:
I could be wrong on all or part of this. It’s just my reading of the tea leaves. And it leaves a lot of details unclear.
For example, how do you distinguish between photo ID-generated provisionals and other provisionals, like not being on the voter roll for some unexplained reason? When do the provisionals get counted?
All in all, it’s a stupid effort to keep as much of the law intact as possible, but its effect will be to destroy Democratic votes and give a false picture of the results on election night.
Welcome to the Confederacy of Dunces, BooMan.
There is a lot of hard work ahead of us.
Question: Wasn’t there a national drive discussion for a National ID (like an interstate passport) in the recent past? Who and why advocated this? Does it jibe with this Rovian solution to a non-existing problem? (Non-exsisting if you forgive Romney voting in MA and living in New Hampshire or Coulter voting in Florida or where ever she is on election day, of course.
He’s a judge. There’s a certain amount of deference he’s supposed to show towards the laws passed by the legislature. He’s supposed to issue the narrowest ruling he can.
I know, I know, what a geek, with my head in the clouds about the apolitical judiciary…but still, there is a different set of rules operating here.