Voter Restrictions May Be Troublesome

A state government committee hearing was held in Harrisburg on Monday to discuss voter fraud and two proposed house bills, 647 and 934, that would address the issue. The proposals would place more safeguards in place such as requiring voters to have specially issued photo ID's.

The hearing lasted several hours. Michael Bekesha, an attorney at Judicial Watch, a Washington D.C. non-profit spoke at the hearing and said his organization is in support of these bills but what is not addressed in these bills is voter fraud by absentee ballot.

Karen Buck, Director of the SeniorLAW Center said the bills are potentially destructive to marginalized groups such as senior citizens, the disabled and low-income people who may not have the means to access new voter registration cards.

The meeting was called by Daryl Metcalfe, a Republican from Butler County and Majority Chairman. Babette Josephs, Minority Chair noted that voter fraud wasn't really an issue in Pennsylvania.

"There aren't jobs, wages are stagnant, there's a lawsuit against healthcare reform, there's the prospect of losing education funds, and i would think that people would be even more eager to vote than ever before. Now it seems to me is precisely the wrong time to start making it more difficult for people to vote," she said.