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Voter ID law opponents request injunction preventing enforcement
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Commonwealth Court Judge Robert Simpson has scheduled new hearings Tuesday on the state's voter identification bill.
The state Supreme Court on Tuesday sent an appeal of the new ID requirements back to Commonwealth Court to determine whether the state was doing enough to make sure voters were obtaining IDs, giving the lower court until Oct. 2 to make a decision.
Judge Simpson -- who allowed the law to go forward in a decision released Aug. 15 -- may hear two days of testimony from both the Corbett administration and those seeking to halt enforcement of the new requirements this Election Day.
The first hearing is set for 10 a.m. Tuesday in Harrisburg. The judge could hear another day of testimony, but it was unclear if it would be heard Wednesday, as that is Yom Kippur.
The legal team opposing the voter ID law filed a new request with Commonwealth Court today for a preliminary injunction seeking to halt its enforcement.
The request argues there are already enough barriers in place making it burdensome to get an ID -- such as the fact that some applicants have had to make two trips to driver's license centers -- and Judge Simpson should stop enforcement as early as Friday.
"The Supreme Court has set a high standard for avoiding a preliminary injunction that [state officials] have no possibility of meeting," according to the injunction request.
First Published September 20, 2012 10:39 am
