The SeniorLAW Center wrote an Amicus Brief that CARIE joined, along with several other organizations, supporting the petitioners and expressing concern about the impact of the Photo ID law on older voters. The Amicus Brief documents how the law will place a heavy burden on older voters because they lack photo ID at higher rates than the general population. They may also not be able to get needed documentation and will have difficulty traveling to a PA Drivers License Center to get a photo ID. Highlights of the brief include:
- “Older Pennsylvanians, face mobility, transportation, disability, financial and geographic challenges to a degree that other voters do not face.
- Large numbers of older Pennsylvanians lack acceptable voter identification under Act 18.
- Older voters are significantly more likely to be without government-issued photo identification than any other age group.
- Obtaining acceptable voter identification will be impossible for many older Pennsylvanians and a Herculean task for other older Pennsylvanians.
- There are likely at least 150,000 older Pennsylvanians for whom there is no record of their birth.
- Older Pennsylvanians born in Puerto Rico face a particular challenge.
- For many older Pennsylvanians, the burden of obtaining the required documentation in terms of dollars, time and difficulty will make exercising their franchise so difficult and costly as to effectively deny them the right to vote.”
CARIE is part of the PA Voter ID Coalition working to help get voters educated so they won’t be disenfranchised at the polls.
