Republicans in Pennsylvania are pushing for a constitutional amendment that requires voters to show identification before casting their ballots, sparking a fight over election security in the swing state.
Sponsors want to leverage fast-track rules to move a House bill out of a Harrisburg committee and onto the floor. With approval, the issue would go before Pennsylvanians on the November ballot.
“You need photo identification to sign up for a library card or apply for a marriage license, but not to vote in Pennsylvania,” House Republican State Government Committee Chairman Brad Roae said. “So, if your polling location is in a library, make sure you bring identification in order to be able to check out books, but don’t worry about needing it to vote.”
The effort taps into a debate in U.S. politics that’s been raging for years and gained traction in 2020 when former President Donald Trump blamed his loss to President Biden on state-based changes to voting laws during the coronavirus pandemic.
He said the changes led to rampant voter fraud, but couldn’t substantiate his claims in court. The situation came to a head during the U.S. Capitol protest on Jan. 6, 2021.
Democrats say there is scant evidence of real voter fraud and that Republicans are using the issue to suppress turnout or explain their electoral losses.
Beth Rementer, a spokeswoman for Pennsylvania’s House Democratic Caucus in Harrisburg, said the latest effort is “nothing more than a political stunt.”
“The Constitution grants rights. It doesn’t and shouldn’t take away rights. Therefore, any attempt to disenfranchise voters through a constitutional amendment is a nonstarter for House Democrats,” she said.
GOP sponsors say public opinion is on their side.
A Franklin & Marshall College survey from 2021 found that 74% of Pennsylvania voters think voters should present an ID at the polls.
Support split widely along partisan lines, with 95% of Republicans supporting the idea versus 47% of Democrats.
“For nearly a year, this legislation has sat in committee. And that is despite poll after poll after poll telling us that requiring identification to vote at each and every election is supported on a broad, bipartisan basis,” House Republican Leader Bryan Cutler said.
Republican lawmakers say the November election will see high turnout, so it’s a good time to let voters weigh in on the ID amendment.
The Keystone State will dole out 19 electoral votes in the presidential race. It’s a major prize for President Biden, who travels frequently to the Democratic stronghold of Philadelphia, and former President Donald Trump, who enjoys wide appeal in more rural sections of the state, home to 13 million people.
Republican sponsors want to use a parliamentary tool, a discharge petition, to get their bill to the floor. It requires signatures from 50 members — 25 from the minority party and 25 from the majority party — to lift the bill out of committee.
Twenty-two Democratic lawmakers supported an omnibus bill that included voter-ID language in 2023, although that vote failed. GOP sponsors believe that based on that vote, they need to find three more Democrats in support of the constitutional amendment.
“Commonsense tells us that as more and more proposals are introduced to make our elections harder to administer and less secure, that simply requiring a state-provided identification at each election is the best way to enhance election integrity,” Mr. Cutler said. “Time is of the essence.”