Better late than never.

92-year old Viviette Applewhite, who marched for civil rights alongside Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in Georgia and who has been voting in Presidential elections without a problem for more than 50 years, didn't have the luxury to wait for the DoJ to finally step up to the plate.

She is now the lead plaintiff in Applewhite v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

As explained by the Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia:

The plaintiffs have filed a compelling trial brief [PDF] in support of their motion for a preliminary injunction, together with the affidavits from five expert witnesses.

In it they noted that PA Supreme Court decisions dating back to 1868, the right to vote under the right to vote is deemed "sacred" and "fundamental."

They cite the Wisconsin cases which enjoined the Badger State's Photo ID Law and argue that the statute is subject to "strict scrutiny" which requires that the Photo ID proponents demonstrate that the statute is narrowly tailored to achieve a compelling governmental interest --- a standard that cannot possibly be met because of "the absence of any evidence of the in-person voter fraud that is the only fraud addressed by the Law."

In arguing that the law's "purported objectives smack of pretext," they cite "Representative Turzai’s candid boast that the Law will give the election in Pennsylvania to Governor Romney."

Their experts provide evidence on the number of PA voters who do not possess valid Photo IDs, the barriers for obtaining acceptable Photo IDs by naturalized U.S. citizens, residents born in Puerto-Rico, barriers and expense in obtaining birth certificates and expert testimony demonstrating that there is no history of in-person impersonation in the Commonwealth.

It seems just a tad ironic that this obnoxious assault on the fundamental right to vote would be played out in the birthplace of our Democracy.

"It seems just a tad ironic that this obnoxious assault on the fundamental right to vote would be played out in the birthplace of our Democracy."

Which was the point the AFL-CIO made in an amicus brief it recently filed: http://freeandequalpa.wo...aw-center-amicus-briefs/

Also, one of the expert reports submitted by the voters challenging the PA law indicates that there may well be evidence to support the notion that the law violates Section 2 of the VRA because the law disproportionally impacts women, Latinos, the elderly, the young and the poor: http://www.aclupa.org/do...nloads/BarretoReport.pdf

Thanks Free & Equal PA for the links and for your organization's efforts to secure the right to vote in the Keystone state.

Here are some salient stats from the Barreto report, which was prepared by three university professors from the Universities of Washington and New Mexico.

37.3% of PA voters are unaware of the existence of the Photo ID law. 14.4% of potential voters (1,364,433), 12.8% of registered voters (1,055,200) lack a valid ID.

There are a large number of people who think they have the requisite ID but do not --- something that raises the likelihood that voters will be either turned away at the polls or forced to cast provisional ballots simply because they did not realize what was required until they arrived at the polls.

They also reported: "Residents without access to a car are three to four times more likely to be without a valid photo ID" --- a fact that underscores greater difficulty in obtaining the requisite ID.

The report ought to be required reading for every voter in Minnesota where the GOP is seeking to dupe citizens to pass Photo ID as an amendment to their state's constitution.

"and for your organization's efforts to secure the right to vote in the Keystone state"

As much as I would like to take credit for it, I am just a solo blogger reporting on the litigation.

We need a lot more Viviette's in this world.

My wife and I are working in North Carolina for the Obama campaign to get people registered to vote.

Doing what we can, but I fully believe the GOP nutbags and the Tpublican billionaires are going to try to steal this election just like they did in 2004.
These people are rabid and will do ANYTHING to stop another 4 years of Obama.