[EL] Lead Penn Voter ID Plaintiff gets her ID
Adam Bonin
adam at boninlaw.com
Fri Aug 17 09:14:44 PDT 2012
Correct. All she had to do was sign a statement verifying her complaint,
stating words like:
"I, ____________________________, hereby state that the facts above set
forth are true and correct to the best of my knowledge, information and
belief, and that I expect to be able to prove the same at a hearing held in
this matter. I understand that the statements herein are made subject to the
penalties of 18 Pa. C.S. § 4904, relating to unsworn falsification to
authorities."
And, in fact, it only takes one plaintiff to verify the complaint, and
Applewhite didn't do that here. Plaintiff Joyce Block did. See last page:
http://www.aclupa.org/downloads/PetitionApplewhite.pdf
Adam C. Bonin
The Law Office of Adam C. Bonin
1900 Market Street, 4th Floor
Philadelphia, PA 19103
(215) 864-8002 (w)
(215) 701-2321 (f)
(267) 242-5014 (c)
adam at boninlaw.com
http://www.boninlaw.com
-----Original Message-----
From: law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu
[mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu] On Behalf Of Michael
McDonald
Sent: Friday, August 17, 2012 12:07 PM
To: law-election at department-lists.uci.edu
Subject: Re: [EL] Lead Penn Voter ID Plaintiff gets her ID
Just curious, how was she able to be a plaintiff in the case if she could
not document her identity? The state of Pennsylvania has a more strict
identification law for voting than to be a plaintiff in a case?
============
Dr. Michael P. McDonald
Associate Professor, George Mason University Non-Resident Senior Fellow,
Brookings Institution
Mailing address:
(o) 703-993-4191 George Mason University
(f) 703-993-1399 Dept. of Public and International Affairs
mmcdon at gmu.edu 4400 University Drive - 3F4
http://elections.gmu.edu Fairfax, VA 22030-4444
From: law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu
[mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu] On Behalf Of Justin
Levitt
Sent: Friday, August 17, 2012 11:32 AM
To: law-election at department-lists.uci.edu
Subject: Re: [EL] Lead Penn Voter ID Plaintiff gets her ID
One more conceptual note about l'affaire Applewhite:
I'm all for uniformity in the rules ... but it's worth questioning the value
of uniformity in the sanctions/consequences if those rules aren't followed.
Strict application of any sort of uniform rule will inevitably fail to
ensure that all eligible voters, and only eligible voters, can cast a valid
vote. That's mostly because we humans are quite expert at failing to
anticipate every possible circumstance in setting down initial rules.
Applewhite's example illustrates the concept. The law required certain
documents to get a state-issued ID, and she didn't have them. The default
consequence is that she couldn't get an ID. But given the material she did
have, no reasonable person could have thought that she wasn't who she said
she was. And so, despite the fact that she didn't comply with the uniform
law, her failure to comply with the rule was forgiven.
I've recently argued for a materiality principle precisely like the one that
looks like it was applied to Applewhite, which I argue ought to be
applicable to mistakes and lapses by officials and voters alike, in all
kinds of election rules. It's similar in some ways to Rick's Democracy
Canon, but I think more grounded and more capable of (heh) uniform
application ... and a principle for all decisionmakers, not just courts. And
some federal law (the Civil Rights Act of 1964) and some state laws already
incorporate the principle ... though not for circumstances quite like
Applewhite's.
Justin
On 8/17/2012 7:24 AM, Rick Hasen wrote:
Joe,
You may not know this, but I actually favor a national voter identification
card (with optional thumbprint---you can't leave your thumb at home),
coupled with free and universal voter registration conducted by the federal
government through an independent agency. When someone turns 18, graduates
or drops out of college, they get a unique voter number which follows them
when they move so that they do not need to do more to update registration
than submit a change of address to the post office.
This is an area where the more uniformity in the rules for running
elections, and the less discretion in the hands of local election officials
(who often lack adequate resources or training), the better.
The goal should be to ensure that all eligible voters, and only eligible
voters, can cast a vote which will be accurately counted.
Rick
On 8/17/12 7:20 AM, Joe La Rue wrote:
I agree, Rick, with your hope that the State sets appropriate guidelines to
aid this process. Although you and I disagree as to whether there ought to
be voter photo ID laws, we are in complete agreement that ALL eligible
Americans should be allowed to vote.
Joe
___________________
Joseph E. La Rue
cell: 480.272.2715
email: joseph.e.larue at gmail.com
CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: This e-mail message, including any attachments, is
for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential
and privileged information or otherwise be protected by law. Any
unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you
are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply e-mail
and destroy all copies of the original message.
On Fri, Aug 17, 2012 at 7:17 AM, Rick Hasen <rhasen at law.uci.edu> wrote:
I hope that the state has set forth uniform rules for how to take age and
other factors into consideration. One thing studies have demonstrated is
that there is not uniformity in local election administration, when local
election officials are given discretion over how to administer the rules.
On 8/17/12 7:15 AM, Joe La Rue wrote:
Interesting development in the Penn Voter ID case: the lead plaintiff, who
said she wouldn't be allowed to get an ID, just got one.
The day after a judge upheld Pennsylvania's new voter identification law,
the lead plaintiff in the suit seeking to block the law went to a PennDot
office and was issued the photo ID card she needs to vote.
Nothing has changed since Viviette Applewhite, 93, testified in July. The
law stands. She still doesn't have a driver's license or Social Security
card. The name on her birth certificate is still different from the name on
her other documents - all of which, under the law, should have barred her
from getting her photo ID.
But at precisely 1:16 p.m. Thursday, she got it anyway.
The State did just what has been saying it would do: it took "age and other
factors into consideration" and got this lady her ID so she could vote. I
wonder if the other plaintiffs might be able to do the same thing?
Joe
___________________
Joseph E. La Rue
cell: 480.272.2715
email: joseph.e.larue at gmail.com
CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: This e-mail message, including any attachments, is
for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential
and privileged information or otherwise be protected by law. Any
unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you
are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply e-mail
and destroy all copies of the original message.
_______________________________________________
Law-election mailing list
Law-election at department-lists.uci.edu
http://department-lists.uci.edu/mailman/listinfo/law-election
--
Rick Hasen
Chancellor's Professor of Law and Political Science
UC Irvine School of Law
401 E. Peltason Dr., Suite 1000
Irvine, CA 92697-8000
949.824.3072 - office
949.824.0495 - fax
rhasen at law.uci.edu
http://law.uci.edu/faculty/page1_r_hasen.html
http://electionlawblog.org
Now available: The Voting Wars: http://amzn.to/y22ZTv
--
Rick Hasen
Chancellor's Professor of Law and Political Science
UC Irvine School of Law
401 E. Peltason Dr., Suite 1000
Irvine, CA 92697-8000
949.824.3072 - office
949.824.0495 - fax
rhasen at law.uci.edu
http://law.uci.edu/faculty/page1_r_hasen.html
http://electionlawblog.org
Now available: The Voting Wars: http://amzn.to/y22ZTv
_______________________________________________
Law-election mailing list
Law-election at department-lists.uci.edu
http://department-lists.uci.edu/mailman/listinfo/law-election
--
Justin Levitt
Associate Professor of Law
Loyola Law School | Los Angeles
919 Albany St.
Los Angeles, CA 90015
213-736-7417
justin.levitt at lls.edu
ssrn.com/author=698321
_______________________________________________
Law-election mailing list
Law-election at department-lists.uci.edu
http://department-lists.uci.edu/mailman/listinfo/law-election
View list directory