Pennsylvania ACLU Puts New Voter ID Law In Its Legal Crosshairs
By Steve Tawa
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The Pennsylvania ACLU is assembling a legal team to challenge Pennsylvania's just-passed voter ID law (see related story).
"It's hard not to view this as an attempt at voter suppression," says Vic Walczak, legal director of the civil liberties group's state chapter.
Reacting to Republican governor Tom Corbett's comment before signing the measure that it's "to prevent voter fraud," Walczak says:
"Yeah, I'm sorry, that's just a crock of you-know-what."
Philadelphia DA calls voter ID law "Solution in search of a problem"
Walczak says the voter ID measure will disenfranchise tens of thousands of people across the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, including seniors, the urban poor -- in large measure racial and ethnic minorities -- and students, all of whom tend to vote Democratic.
"These are people who lawfully voted, in some cases for many decades," Walczak tells KYW Newsradio. "They're going to show up and be prevented from voting simply because they did not have the right type of photo ID."
Opponents hope to mount the challenge before the November elections.
