The Herald, Sharon, Pa.

Local News

October 31, 2012

Poll workers will ask voters to show photo ID

By Sandy Scarmack Herald Staff Writer

MERCER COUNTY — Even though Pennsylvania voters won’t be required to produce photo identification to vote on Tuesday, Mercer County poll workers will still ask for it.

The request isn’t part of a voter-suppression effort, but another practice run to familiarize voters and poll workers with the process that’s expected to be in place next year when the state’s voter ID law takes effect, according to Jeff Greenburg, county director of elections.

Voters who don’t have the photo ID or refuse to produce it won’t be stopped from voting, Greenburg said.

“We are going to ask for identification. If a person shows it, they sign the book and go vote on the machine. If they don’t show it, for whatever reason, whether they have it and just don’t want to show it, then we are going to hand them a flier about the pending Voter ID law and they can sign the book and go vote on the machine,” Greenburg said.

The Voter ID law has been challenged in court and last month a judge issued a partial injunction putting it on hold for next month’s election. The law requires voters to produce photo identification before casting a ballot to ensure the person voting is the same person who is registered.

Greenburg said the process in this election will be very similar to the “dry run” in place for the primary election in April when poll workers also asked for identification and gave every voter a flier explaining the law. This time poll workers will only give the flier to voters who don’t show identification.

Greenburg said his 450 poll workers have been trained about how to handle the situation for Tuesday’s election.

“We aren’t going to engage in any kind of dialogue about the law. We’re going to keep it simple. We aren’t going to respond to any philosophical or theoretical debates about whether it’s legal or if we agree or don’t agree. We aren’t going to have any political discussion. We don’t have the time and it isn’t appropriate,” Greenburg said.

He warned however, that there is one instance in which a voter is required to show identification prior to voting. “If you are voting for the first time in a precinct, you have to show ID. It could be a utility bill, a paycheck, a bank statement or anything that shows your name and address as a match to the voter registration rolls. It doesn’t have to be a photo ID. That isn’t new. That’s been in place for more than a decade,” he said.

“That applies to anyone voting for the first time in a precinct. Even if you lived there, moved away and came back, it’s considered a first time and you have to have identification,” he added.

At a meeting last week, Commission Brian Beader said he had asked Greenburg to have poll worker collect data about who had a valid ID and who didn’t. He wanted to send that information to the state, he said.

Greenburg said he has since spoken with Beader and explained why he didn’t think that was something he could do during this election. “We’re not going to attempt that. It will be a difficult enough day for them to do just what they are required to do,” he said. He said the commissioner agreed with him.

“One of the concerns about the Voter ID law is that we may never know the real numbers of people who don’t have identification until we have to enforce it. We may not get a real number until we see who has to vote by provisional ballot because they don’t have an ID,” he added.

He also said he didn’t think tracking that information Tuesday would provide a realistic view.

“We can ask someone if they have ID and they may have a valid driver’s license in their back pocket but not want to show it. So we would have to indicate that they didn’t have ID, which isn’t accurate. All the counties would like those numbers,” Greenburg said.

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