A Pennsylvania judge Tuesday orderedstate officials not to enforce the commonwealth’s tough new voter ID law in the coming election, saying there was not enough time to ensure that some voters would not be disenfranchised.
Commonwealth Court Judge Robert Simpson said elections officials could still ask voters for a photo ID, but could not turn away otherwise qualified voters who had not been able to obtain one.
Simpson said he was effectively extending a “soft run” of the new law envisioned by the General Assembly. In such cases, Simpson wrote, “an otherwise qualified elector who does not provide proof of identification may cast a ballot that shall be counted without the necessity of casting a provisional ballot.”
Simpson’s decision that those voters do not have to cast a provisional ballot “is what makes this so significant and why we think it’s a real victory,” said Penda Hair of Advancement Project, one of the groups that challenged the new law.
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