[EL] Lead Penn Voter ID Plaintiff gets her ID

Fri Aug 17 09:12:45 PDT 2012

Justin's comments about the materiality principle in the context of the
Applewhite affair brings to mind a conundrum some people in my state have
been caught up in.  Indiana requires persons applying for a photo ID or
driver's license to produce a birth certificate along with proof of a valid
Social Security number.   Some individuals have discovered in making
application that the name on their birth certificate doesn't match the name
under which they've lived their entire lives.  This results in a conundrum:
they must either consider voting by mail-in absentee ballot (assuming
they're over 65 or otherwise meet the statutory criteria to vote absentee),
or petition a court to change their name to the name on their birth
certificate, even though that's not the name they've lived their life under.
That process involved in changing one's name can be expensive, cumbersome,
and fraught with uncertainty.  For instance, in at least two recent cases
I'm aware of, name changes were denied because the petitioner lacked a
current, valid driver's license the name-change statute has been construed
by trial courts to require. 

Does anyone have any thoughts about whether it is excessively burdensome
under the Burdick/Anderson/Crawford line of cases to require a person to
seek and obtain a name change so they can obtain the ID required by these
laws to vote in person by regular (non-provisional) ballot? 

William R. Groth

Fillenwarth Dennerline Groth & Towe, LLP

429 E. Vermont Street, Ste. 200

Indianapolis, IN 46202

Telephone: (317) 353-9363

Fax: (317) 351-7232

E-mail:   <mailto:wgroth at fdgtlaborlaw.com> wgroth at fdgtlaborlaw.com 

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
<http://ssrn.com/abstract=1477663>  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
<http://ssrn.com/abstract=1344476> , 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
<http://mobile.philly.com/news/?wss=/philly/news/breaking/&id=166490216&view
All=y> . 

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
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://webshare.law.ucla.edu/Listservs/law-election/attachments/20120817/e4150a32/attachment.html>