Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court Judge Bernard L. McGinley removed parts of a law requiring the state's 8.2 million voters to show a form of valid photo identification, or special voting-only card, before being able to vote, the Associated Press reported.
According to the judge, the law imposed on a citizen's right to vote due to the inconvenience of obtaining a valid photo identification card and the lack of explanation on why a photo i.d. requirement is needed, according to the AP.
McGinley deemed the law "not constitutional," because it does not equally require a convenient way of obtaining a photo ID, the AP reported. The entire law was not struck down by Judge McGinley, but the most important part, which restricts people from voting without a photo i.d., is no longer effective.
The law was passed in 2012 by Tom Corbett due to a Republican-controlled Legislature, the AP reported. Every Democrat lawmaker opposed it's implementation at the time, but Republicans deemed the law necessary in order to prevent voter fraud.
The state argued the special voting-only card created by the law would make it easier and safer for the people of Pennsylvania to vote, and lawyers defending the law argued voters had been made aware of the requirements and how to obtain the appropriate ID now needed to vote, the AP reported.
McGinley stated in his ruling that there is "overwhelming evidence" of hundreds of qualified voters who lack the required photo ID stated under the law, the AP reported. McGinley also cited the "educational" and "marketing" efforts to inform voters of the requirements were "largely ineffective and consistently confusing."
McGinley also pointed out the special voting-only card was a mere "creation" by the State Department, who were not authorized to create such a card in the first place, and found the law to be "fraught with illegalities and dubious authority," according to the AP.
Under the law, the voting-only IDs could only be obtained by the state Department of Transportation licensing centers, the AP reported.
McGinley wrote in his ruling the act of obtaining the card is an inconvenience to voters and the purpose of voting laws are to "assure a free and fair election," and "the Voter ID Law does not further this goal," according to the AP.
"In contrast to 9,300 polling places, to obtain an ID for voting purposes, a qualified elector must overcome the barrier of transport and travel to one of PennDOT's 71 (licensing centers) during limited hours," McGinley said, according to the AP.
"As a constitutional prerequisite, any voter ID law must contain a mechanism for ensuring liberal access to compliant photo IDs so that the requirement ... does not disenfranchise valid voters," McGinley wrote in the ruling, the AP reported.
