Stay Informed!

Josephs objects to U.S. Supreme Court's ruling on photo ID at the polls

HARRISBURG, April 30 -- State Rep. Babette Josephs, D-Phila., is calling the recent U.S. Supreme Court's ruling that allows states to require photo identification for voting another example of how our country's highest court is politicized.

"Requiring photo identification is nothing more than a national Republican strategy to suppress the vote, considering that the voters who most likely lack a photo identification are the elderly, minority, urban and poor -- individuals who traditionally are inclined to vote Democratic," said Josephs, who also serves as chairwoman of the House State Government Committee.

"The fact that the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of Indiana's law to require photo ID before casting ballots, is just another example of a once impartial court's downward spiral into politicization, which began with the 2000 presidential election in Florida," she said.

"Disenfranchising any group hurts all of us as Americans. Democracy works best when more Americans participate, but perhaps the Republicans are happy with this ruling because it may make it harder for all of those voters who left the Republican party for the Democratic primary to vote.

"When I became Democratic chairman of the House State Government Committee, I made it my mission to remove barriers to voting and to encourage everyone eligible to come out Election Day. Today's ruling will not change that."

###agh/2008/jma
l:'print'releases'idruling.182