About 9 Percent of PA Voters Don't Have Proper ID to Vote

In Northampton County alone, there are 18,062 registered voters who do not have a PennDOT ID number that will be required to vote in the fall general election, according to a Pennsylvania Department of State comparison of voter registration rolls and PennDOT ID databases.

In March, that requires each voter to present proof of identification at every election. Sponsored by Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, R-Cranberry, the law is scheduled to take effect for the Nov. 6 general election.

, as Democrats have challenged that it will disenfranchise voters without proper IDs, while .

The database comparison provided this week by the Department of State shows that 91 percent of Pennsylvania's 8,232,928 registered voters have PennDOT ID numbers. Of the 758,939 voters who could not be matched between the Department of State and PennDOT databases, 22 percent, or 167,566, are inactive voters, most of whom have not voted since 2007.

When looking at information for the Lehigh Valley as a whole (Northampton and Lehigh counties combined), the database shows that of the 31,087 voters without PennDOT IDs, 21,967 are active voters and 9,120 are inactive.

In Northampton County alone, 12,094 of voters without a PennDOT ID are considered active, while 5,968 are inactive. 

All voters identified as not having a PennDOT ID number will be contacted by letter this summer, reminding them of the new voter ID law, what IDs are acceptable for voting purposes and how to get a free ID if they don't have one.

County election directors will also be provided with the names and addresses of voters in their counties who did not match any record in the PennDOT database.

“This thorough comparison of databases confirms that most Pennsylvanians have acceptable photo ID for voting this November,” said Carol Aichele, secretary of the Commonwealth. “This comparison takes into account only voters with PennDOT IDs, and does not include voters who may have any of the other various acceptable forms of ID.”

Such other acceptable forms include identification from accredited Pennsylvania colleges or universities, Pennsylvania care facilities, military identification, valid U.S. passports, other photo identification issued by the federal or Pennsylvania government, or employee identification issued by the federal, Pennsylvania, or a county or municipal government.

All identification used for voting must have an expiration date and be current, except for Pennsylvania driver's licenses or non-driver photo identification, which are valid for voting purposes one year past their expiration date. Retired military identification with an indefinite expiration date is also valid for voting purposes.

Voters who do not have an acceptable form of photo identification for voting can get one for free at any PennDOT driver license center.

The law has continued to be a point of contention between the Republican state lawmakers who support it and Democrats who oppose it.

Speaking at a meeting of the Republican State Committee in Hershey on June 23, state House Majority Leader Mike Turzai, R-Bradford Woods, was listing the accomplishments of the state House and Senate, when he pointed to the new Voter ID law.

"Pro-Second Amendment? The Castle Doctrine, it's done," Turzai said. "First pro-life legislation—abortion facility regulations—in 22 years, done. Voter ID, which is going to allow Gov. (Mitt) Romney to win the state of Pennsylvania, done."

Democratic opponents posted video of his remark, saying it showed a political motivation behind the bill.