Judge: Photo IDs will not be needed for November election

Pennsylvania voters will not need to take out their photo identification to vote in the upcoming election.

On Tuesday morning Commonwealth Court Judge Robert Simpson said the new voter ID rule could not go into effect until after the Nov. 6 election. The ruling allows the full law to go into effect next year, but he could still decide later to issue a permanent injunction as part of the ongoing legal challenge to the law's constitutionality.

According to the Department of State, now voters will be asked, but not required, to show an acceptable form of identification to vote.

State Rep. Carl Walker Metzgar, R-Allegheny Township, said he expects the ruling to be appealed by both sides. He voted in favor of the law because he said it protects Somerset County voters from fraud that is committed in larger cities.

"I certainly didn't relish having to do it," he said. "I always enjoy the fact that whenever I vote in Allegheny Township I know everyone in the building."

Metzgar said unfortunately it is not that way everywhere.

"It's a shame we're here because the world has changed," he said. "While Somerset doesn't have a problem with voter fraud, I think it's commonly known that in Philadelphia there is."

Metzgar said the law allowed a liberal interpretation of a photo ID. For example, college identification cards were an acceptable form of a photo ID.

"That doesn't really prove that you are actually a resident," he said.

Democratic opponents of the law said it was designed by Republicans to disenfranchise voters. In Pennsylvania a low voter turnout has typically helped Republican candidates, according to The Associated Press.