Philadelphia Officials Promise To Help Voters Overcome ID Law Difficulties
By Steve Tawa
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Even as the fight over Pennsylvania's new voter ID law makes its way through the courts in Harrisburg (see related story), members of Philadelphia City Council today announced that they have joined a coalition of civic groups in their fight to combat confusion over the new voting rules.
City Council president Darrell Clarke promised that he and his colleagues will use campaign funds to arrange transportation for registered voters to get to Penndot licensing centers to obtain photo IDs when needed.
"We will leave no stone unturned in terms of making sure that people, if they want to get ID and (are) in a position to vote, that opportunity will be there," Clarke said.
Karen Buck of the Senior Law Center says the number of Philadelphia senior citizens without government IDs is higher than the national average of 18 percent.
"Seniors in Philadelphia, 80 and older, one in four did not have photo ID," she said today. "Among those younger seniors, 65-69, it was one in five."
John Jordan of the NAACP of Pennsylvania says the law is "strategic, targeted, and well funded" to stifle the largest groups of people who voted in the last election: women, 18-25 years old, and senior citizens.
"We'll be there when this law gets struck down in a couple of weeks," he said.
