PA's Voter ID Law: Suggestions to Help Ensure Everyone's Voting Rights

Earlier this week, Commonwealth Court judge upheld Pennsylvania’s restrictive Voter ID Law.  It is now going to the PA Supreme Court on appeal -- See ACLU blog post entitled "Voter ID: Reviewing the ruling, and our next steps."

As that final decision is not likely to be made until near Election Day, we need to help make sure that everyone knows the law and is ready with their id and if they are disenfranchised, let them know what they can do.  Here are my suggestions:

1.       Make sure your name on your photo ID matches how you are registered (you can check out how you appear on the rolls at http://www.votespa.com/portal/server.pt?open=514&objID=1174115&parentname=ObjMgr&parentid=1&mode=2.   If you use the online check, enter your name as it appears on your photo id.  If no match appears, then you will need to register for a "name change" in order to ensure a match;

2.       If you don't have a valid id, you need to jump through the hoops put in place by the Department of State and PennDOT.  More info is available at www.votespa.com;

3.       Educate your friends and neighbors about the law:

a.        It might be a good idea to carry around some voter registration applications (they can be picked up at your county elections office) to assist those who might have a problem.

b.      Also the ACLU has a great handout on this. Go to http://www.aclupa.org/issues/votingissues/voterid/ for info, ordering free cards, and downloading a pdf version of the card;

4.       If you are a poll worker, please stay in that position to help make sure that every eligible voter gets to vote and is not denied because of a slight difference in their name; and

5.       If you are not a poll worker, consider working with the local political parties or the candidate of your choice to become a poll watcher inside the polls.  Then if you see any problems you can either text a co-worker who is standing outside the polls or leave your poll watching to follow the person outside who was disenfranchised and suggest they call

a.       The voter protection hot line at 1-(866) Our-Vote / 1-(866) 687-8683 for English and español ;

b.      Their local party headquarters and ask to speak the voter protection contact; and/or

c.       Their local county elections office if that wasn’t already done before they left the polls. The phone numbers for the elections office are in the blue pages of your phone directory.  BTW, the elections offices are likely to be overwhelmed on election day with calls; they were in 2008 here in Centre County  and I expect it to be even more clogged up this year because of this law. 

Posted by Joanne Tosti-Vasey, Immediate Past President of PA NOW and member of the PA NOW Executive Committee

Event Registration Online for Pennsylvania NOW Convention

Online Ticketing for Pennsylvania NOW Convention powered by Eventbrite

Pennsylvania NOW Convention just 3 Weeks Away with TWO Featured Speakers: Terry O'Neill and Sioban "Sam" Bennett

The Pennsylvania NOW Convention “United We Rise” is just three weeks away.  It will be held on Saturday, October 1, 2011 at Crowne Plaza‐Bucks County ♦ 4700 Street Rd ♦ Trevose, PA 19053.
 
PA NOW 2011 Convention Invitation BIG NEWS!  We now have confirmed two GREAT featured speakers! Our Featured Speakers will be Terry O’Neill, National NOW President and Siobhan “Sam” Bennett, President and CEO Women's Campaign Forum & 2008 PA Congressional candidate.

Sam will be our featured speaker at the PAC luncheon that starts at 11:35 am.  Siobhan "Sam" Bennett, President/CEO has served as the President and CEO of the Women’s Campaign Fund (WCF) and its affiliated programs The She Should Run Foundation and WCF PAC since March 2009. Under Sam’s leadership, WCF’s combined budget has more than doubled and the organization’s programmatic reach has expanded to every state in the country and been featured in national syndications, including USA Today and over 200 AP newspapers. Sam has lent her unique perspective as a candidate at the local and federal levels to broaden WCF’s impact on women leaders at all levels of government who support reproductive choices and options, and women who may run for office in the future. Cost for the luncheon is a minimum of $50/person.

Terry will be our featured speaker during the afternoon plenary.  Terry O'Neill, President, National Organization for Women is a feminist attorney, former law professor, and an activist for social justice. O'Neill oversees NOW's multi-issue agenda, which includes: advancing reproductive freedom, promoting diversity and ending racism, stopping violence against women, winning lesbian rights, ensuring economic justice, ending sex discrimination and achieving constitutional equality for women.

We also have a great line-up of workshops that include the following topics:

• Voting Rights, Removing Barriers to Voting, and the Elections process
• Caregiving Care for Caregiver
• Health Care issues including single-payer health care and reproductive health and justice
• Collaborating with other feminist organizations
• School Vouchers and Violence in Schools.

Please spread the word!

Cost for NOW members to attend the Convention is $50 with a sliding scale down to $0.00.  Non-members can register for the Convention for $70.00, which includes a one-year membership in NOW.

To register, you can download this registration form (see below). After completing the form, either mail or email the form with your check/credit card number to our Treasurer, Pamela Macklin.  If you want to pay online for the PAC and/or the luncheon you can do so by credit card at our main website.  Go to http://panow.org and click on the "Donate" button.  Then send the completed registration form to our treasurer at pmacfish@aol.com.
Registration Form for PA NOW Convention and PAC Luncheon
Note two deadlines.  The guaranteed reduced rate for hotel reservations ends on September 15 ($99/night + tax); call the hotel at 1‐215‐364‐2000  to make your reservation. People interested in the PAC luncheon need to reserve their seat at the luncheon by Friday, September 23.  You can either pre-register or register on-site for the convention plenaries, workshops, and cocktail party.  If you are putting your check in the mail for the PAC luncheon, please email our Treasuer at pmacfish@aol.com and let her know that you put the check in the mail to ensure she adds your name to the PAC luncheon.

And here are the directions to the hotel.
Direction Card Crowne Plaza

Again…

Join us at Pennsylvania NOW’s 40^th anniversary convention ON OCTOBER 1 and Please spread the word!

Thank you and see you on October 1.

United We Rise! Pennsylvania NOW Convention on October 1, 2011

We need and will rise to fight the War on Women that is currently being waged against women in the US and here in Pennsylvania. A war that includes: 1) women continuing to earn only 78% of men’s salaries, 2) Congress and the PA General Assembly’s attempts to take away our reproductive rights;  3) Threats to public education; 4) etc.

Join us at our biennial convention October 1, 2011 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel Philadelphia Bucks County, 4700 Street Road, Trevose, PA 19053 (215-364-2000).  We will be focusing on this war on women and how, United, we can fight back.

Lodging is $99 + tax/night; deadline for this rate is September 15.  To receive this rate, contact the hotel and mention Pennsylvania NOW when you make your registration.

This all-day conference will include workshops focusing on reproductive rights attacks, school vouchers, single-payer health care, maternity care, and care giving, as well as working in coalitions, voting, and election work to make sure our united voice is heard. In addition, we will be electing new officers, holding a luncheon PAC fundraiser, voting on the proposed by-laws change, and hosting a cash-bar reception in the evening.

ELECTIONS

We will be holding elections for President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer, & three At-Large Executive Committee members.  The four officers must run together as a slate.  If you are interested running for office, you must contact our Elections Committee. Chairing this committee will be Cindy Purvis (814-460-3568, cindypurvis@velocity.net). Lois Herr (717-371-5721, herrlk@me.com) and Irene Boyle (215- 913-0108) are the other two members of this committee.

PA NOW PAC FUNDRAISER

We have moved the traditional PAC fundraiser from Sunday to Saturday so that more people have a chance to attend if they are not staying overnight.  The keynote speaker at the PAC luncheon will be Siobhan “Sam” Bennett, President and CEO, Women’s Campaign Forum and 2008 NOW PAC-endorsed Congressional candidate from Allentown, PA.

The luncheon will also present current and past NOW PAC-endorsed candidates to the attendees.
This fundraiser will help get out our Voters’ Guide and to also support our endorsed candidates.  Cost is a minimum $50.00/person.  You can use the form below to send in your registration. You can also register online with your credit card for the luncheon at http://panow.org/PAC_file/PANOWPAC.htm.  Then follow-up the online payment with an email to Treasurer Pamela Macklin, pmacfish@aol.com, saying your PAC donation is for the PAC luncheon. Deadline for registering for the PAC luncheon is Friday, September 23.

REGISTRATION FEES

NOW member registration fee is $50.00; early registration by August 26 is $40 in honor of Pennsylvania NOW’s 40th anniversary.  Non-member registration, including a one-year membership is $70.00.  Current members can register and attend the convention on a sliding scale down to $0.00. 

Register online with your credit card at http://panow.org/contribution.htm.  Please follow-up all online payments with an email to pmacfish@aol.com,  saying your “donations” are for your registration and/or PAC luncheon.

You may also register by printing out and mailing in the registration form pictured below.  You can also contact us at panow@panow.org and we will email you a full-size copy of this registration form.

Registration Form for PA NOW Convention

PA House State Government Committee Voting to Deny Voting Rights to People without Photo IDs

The Pennsylvania House State Government Committee Chairman Darryl Metcalfe is expected to hear and vote on HB 934 on Monday morning, May 9, 2011 at 10:00 am. This bill is a dangerous piece of legislation advancing in the state House that will lead to voter suppression if enacted, so it is critical that you take action TODAY!

If enacted, this bill would require every Pennsylvania voter to provide a valid state- or federally-issued photo ID every time he or she goes to the polls:

1. It will create major problems for citizens who are not drivers and who therefore do not have drivers' licenses - domestic violence victims and survivors, senior citizens, urban-dwellers who use public transit, people of color, young people, people with disabilities, etc.
2. The PA County Commissioners' Association has testified that they've seen no evidence of a problem of voter impersonation at the polls.
3. Additionally, based on similar laws implemented in other states, HB 934 will cost PA taxpayers tens of millions of dollars.

Your voice needs to be heard NOW!  Please contact the members of the State House Government Committee and tell them to vote NO on this unnecessary, discriminatory, and expensive bill. 

Here are the members of the State House Government Committee and their email addresses:

• Metcalfe, Daryl D. (R) Chair: dmetcalf@pahousegop.com,
• Grove, Seth M. (R) Secretary: sgrove@pahousegop.com,
• Cox, Jim(R) jcox@pahousegop.com,
• Gabler, Matt (R) mgabler@pahousegop.com,
• Culver, Lynda Schlegel (R) lculver@pahousegop.com,
• Dunbar, George (R) gdunbar@pahousegop.com,
• Evankovich, Eli (R)  eevankov@pahousegop.com,
• Grell, Glen R. (R) ggrell@pahousegop.com,
• Hahn, Marcia M. (R) mhahn@pahousegop.com,
• Kauffman, Rob W. (R) rkauffma@pahousegop.com,
• Knowles, Jerry (R) jknowles@pahousegop.com,
• Krieger, Timothy (R) tkrieger@pahousegop.com,
• Mustio, T. Mark (R) mmustio@pahousegop.com,
• Roae, Brad (R) broae@pahousegop.com,
• Stern, Jerry (R) jstern@pahousegop.com,
• Josephs, Babette, Democratic Chair repjosephs@pahouse.net,
• Payton, Tony J., Jr., Democratic Secretary reppayton@pahouse.net,
• Samuelson, Steve (D) samuelson@pahouse.net,
• Vitali, Greg (D) gvitali@pahouse.net,
• Briggs, Tim (D) repbriggs@pahouse.net,
• DePasquale, Eugene (D) edepasqu@pahouse.net,
• Fabrizio, Florindo J. (D) ffabrizi@pahouse.net,
• Johnson, Kenyatta J. (D) kjohnson@pahouse.net,
• Pashinski, Eddie Day (D) epashins@pahouse.net, and
• Santarsiero, Steven J. (D) repsantarsiero@pahouse.net.

We are encouraging concerned citizens to email these members of the House State Government Committee to ask all members of the Committee to vote NO.  If you are a constituent of one of these members, please include that information in your letter.

FYI, here is the letter that Pennsylvania NOW sent to the entire State House Government Committee this afternoon upon hearing of the impending vote.  You can create your own email and may use the information in our letter to craft your own.

Letter to Members of the PA State House Government Committee, May 6, 2011

On behalf of the approximately 14,000 dues paying members and contributors to the National Organization for Women in Pennsylvania, I am writing to you today to strongly urge you to vote NO on HB 934 that would mandate individuals bring valid state- or federally-issued photo identification in order to cast a ballot.  If passed, this law would disenfranchise thousands of people otherwise legally eligible to vote from making their democratic choice for their representatives and their opinions known on any ballot initiative. Individuals who would be disenfranchised would include, but would not be limited to:

1.    Domestic violence victims who have fled their homes without any form of identification

2.    People with disabilities who are unable to obtain a photo identification either because they are home bound (but could otherwise do an absentee ballot) or because they do not have the money or means to travel to a state location to obtain a photo identification

3.    People of color who for whatever reason do not have photo identification.  Many live in urban areas, do not own cars, and work near home without a need for transportation.  Thus they would not otherwise need this form of identification.

4.    Senior citizens and individuals living in urban or suburban areas who do not have access to public transportation.  This lack of access could be because they are home bound or because they don’t have the money or means to travel to a state-based photo-processing center  to obtain a photo identification.

5.    People who live in rural areas without any means of transportation-public or private-to obtain a state or federally-issued photo id.

6.    People who at or near the time of election have experienced a disaster (such as a home fire where all personal items have perished or a community disaster such as occurred with Hurricane Katrina or the tornadoes throughout the South last week). These individuals may no longer have any identification and no time available to obtain the photo id in order to vote.

We understand that HBHB 934. Given the current economy, we do not believe lawmakers should be creating a new multi-million dollar program to fix a “problem” that doesn't exist. The County Commissioners' Association has testified that there is no evidence of any problem with fraudulent voting and that they oppose this type of legislation as counties will be stuck with additional administrative expenses.

Please vote no on this unnecessary, discriminatory, and expensive bill in committee.

Please let me know how you intend to vote.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Joanne L. Tosti-Vasey, Ph.D

President

Pennsylvania NOW, Inc.

P.O. Box 68

Bellefonte, PA 16823-0068

Email: panow@panow.org

Phone: (814) 280-8571

Fax: (814) 355-3057

Website: http://panow.org

Blog: http://pennsylvanianow.blogspot.com