OUT & ABOUT: Do They Know Anything Abouit Voter ID?

When we last left the characters in the drama known as Pennsylvania’s voter-ID law, all of the interested parties were headed to Commonwealth Court in Harrisburg to have their say on the measure that requires all voters to have a picture ID in order to make their voices heard at the polls on Election Day. (You can vote provisionally, but if you don’t have a copy of your ID to the appropriate voting official within six days, it’s as if you never dropped by the polling place.)

Before Tuesday’s session, the highlight of the hearings before Commonwealth Court Judge Robert Simpson was the testimony of 93-year-old Vivian Applewhite of Philadelphia. Applewhite is the lead plaintiff in this lawsuit and she testified to the court this law would prove a hardship to her and anyone else who would have problems producing the birth certificate needed to procure state-sanctioned ID.

But on Tuesday, Secretary of the Commonwealth Carol Aichele made herself the center of attention by admitting something Gov. Tom Corbett had admitted to reporters earlier in the week: While it is her job to see the voter-ID law is followed, she doesn’t know exactly what’s in it.

Aichele also admitted under oath she didn’t know how many people actually needed state IDs, and that the state’s previous estimate of 759,000 was something she came up with because she was told to produce a number.

In an interview after her testimony last Wednesday, Applewhite she said she used to carry her birth certificate in her purse with her at all times. The nightmare began when she was the victim of a purse-snatching and her birth certificate, along with her Social Security card, was taken, Applewhite said. While her personal hardship was the result of someone committing a crime, Applewhite believes that this will be a hardship for people of color in particular. “There’s a whole lot of [people unable to access their birth certificates],” she said. “A whole gang of them, believe me when I tell you. And it’s going to cripple a whole lot of people in the Black race because they don’t have it.”

In the interview with ThompsonMediaman Communications, Applewhite echoed the sentiments of a growing number of people who believe the sole purpose of this law is to ensure the United States gets a new President in November. Thanks to proclamations like the one State Rep. Mike Turzai made to the Pennsylvania Republican Convention promising the law would help Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney defeat President Barack Obama in Pennsylvania this November, Applewhite believes the purpose for the law is to make sure a certain segment of the population is kept from the polls. Applewhite said, “I think when they made this law they did it to cripple the Black race so that [President] Obama can’t get back in there. I don’t think it’s got a thing to do with voter fraud. This is all to get Obama out of the White House.”

There was a time I might have agreed with Applewhite this is the case in Pennsylvania, but now I’m not so sure. Why? Because most conspiracies require planning and intelligence. And if what Aichele said under oath on Tuesday is any indication of the mindset of the folks who put the voter-ID thing together, these are not the sharpest knives in the drawer.

When asked under oath for details of the law that she is not only championing, but is telling folks is necessary thanks to her consternation at the debacle that was Florida 2000, Aichele couldn’t provide any. None. In fact, she admitted later, “I don’t know what the law says,” according to KYW Newsradio’s Cherri Gregg. She later admitted she doesn’t really know how many folks actually need IDs, but is sticking to Gov. Corbett’s contention 99% of the Commonwealth has ID and is ready to vote.

In case you’re wondering, that’s the same Gov. Corbett who couldn’t tell you what’s in the law … and he signed it. Think about this a moment. You have the person who signed the bill into law and the person expected to enforce said law admitting that they don’t know what’s in the law. Really? This should be fun.

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