A Pennsylvania newspaper owned by a "top right-wing funder" has published an article that "falsely claims" that ID will be required to vote, Think Progress writes.
In a Monday report, the political news website notes that the Mount Pleasant Journal printed an "inaccurate story" about voter ID requirements last week. "All voters will be required to show a photo identification (ID) before voting at a polling place," said the article, which reportedly appeared last Thursday.
Read the full report at Think Progress
The article also notes that voters who do not show government-issued identification will need to cast a provisional ballot, before showing ID at a later date. A scanned copy of the article, headlined "Photo ID required for November election," appears on the Think Progress website.
Earlier this month, Commonwealth Court Judge Robert E. Simpson Jr. postponed the enforcement of Pennsylvania's new, strict voter ID requirement until after the upcoming presidential election.
In other words, though voters in Pennsylvania will be asked to show ID at the polls this November, they will not be turned away or given a provisional ballot if they do not have a government-issued photo ID.
"That's a huge win because last week the judge was suggesting that he was going to have every [voter without ID] vote provisionally," Witold J. Walczak, an attorney with the ACLU of Pennsylvania, said at the time.
However, the judge also ruled that the state would be allowed to "continue its education and advertising campaign, which currently tells voters that IDs are required."
And though the ACLU celebrated the judge's ruling, the group argued that the decision to allow voter ID advertising to continue may cause confusion among voters.
According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the ACLU and its partners have also said that "since Simpson's decision, the state has been circulating misinformation about the law. [Earlier this month] thousands of Pennsylvania seniors received a mailing from PACE/PACENET, a program administered by the state Department of Aging, that included voter ID cards. Those cards stated that photo ID is required on election day."
Last week, The Washington Post wrote that a number of civil liberties groups and unions contend that "a series of misleading ads and announcements [has been] sowing confusion and fear among residents" in the weeks leading up to the election.
The ACLU and other opponents of voter ID laws argue that such legislation (all ostensibly intended to prevent voter fraud) is part of an effort to establish obstacles for potential voters, particularly college students, minorities and the elderly, who tend to vote Democratic, notes an earlier report by The Huffington Post.
In July, the Brennan Center for Justice released a report which found that half a million Americans in 10 states with voter identification laws face serious challenges to obtaining the necessary photo documentation needed to cast a vote in November.
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