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Judge rejects group’s bid to join voter-ID suit

Judge rejects group’s bid to join voter-ID suitHARRISBURG — A Commonweath Court judge has thrown out a petition by a bipartisan group seeking to intervene on behalf of the state in a lawsuit over Pennsylvania’s new voter-identification law.In his ruling Tuesday, Judge Robert Simpson said the eight petitioners, among them Rep. Thomas Killion (R., Chester), offered "no proof to support their claims of ‘voter dilution’ or potential loss of an equal opportunity to participate in the voting process." The group filed its petition in support of the law requiring voters to present designated forms of identification at the polls after the act was challenged by 10 plaintiffs last month. "The intervenors’ views are welcome in a friend-of-the-court brief, but legally there was no basis to include them in the trial," said Vic Walczak, legal director for the ACLU, which is representing the plaintiffs, most of them elderly, who say the voter-ID law will impede their constitutional right to vote. "We’re pleased with the decision."

    by Amy Worden
    Published 

Judge rejects group’s bid to join voter-ID suit

HARRISBURG — A Commonweath Court judge has thrown out a petition by a bipartisan group seeking to intervene on behalf of the state in a lawsuit over Pennsylvania's new voter-identification law.

In his ruling Tuesday, Judge Robert Simpson said the eight petitioners, among them Rep. Thomas Killion (R., Chester), offered "no proof to support their claims of 'voter dilution' or potential loss of an equal opportunity to participate in the voting process." The group filed its petition in support of the law requiring voters to present designated forms of identification at the polls after the act was challenged by 10 plaintiffs last month.

"The intervenors' views are welcome in a friend-of-the-court brief, but legally there was no basis to include them in the trial," said Vic Walczak, legal director for the ACLU, which is representing the plaintiffs, most of them elderly, who say the voter-ID law will impede their constitutional right to vote. "We're pleased with the decision."