Legislators discuss issues at luncheon
Voting on Saturday before election day. No-fault absentee voting. Pay raises for local election boards. Fewer voting precincts. Online voter registration. The ability for overseas and military voters to be able to vote online. Verification of identity by thumbprint or eye scans.
These were some of the ideas Democrats proposed Friday at the annual Washington County League of Women Voters legislative luncheon at Spring Hill Suites, Trinity Point.
Almost one month to the day after Commonwealth Court Judge Bernard McGinley struck down key provisions of Pennsylvania’s law requiring voters to present photo identification, among area legislators attending a League of Women Voters gathering in Washington, the battle lines remained the same as the day Republicans passed voter ID legislation on a party-line vote.
Judy Hughes, president of the League of Women Voters of Washington County, asked the six attendees what changes, if any, would they make to the state’s election code to remove unnecessary barriers to voting.
“I was a victim of voter fraud in both of my elections,” claimed State Rep. Rick Saccone (R-Elizabeth) “I think we need to tighten up the system. The process is very easily circumvented.” He said he brought the matter to the attention of officials in Allegheny County but because Saccone had already been declared the winner in close contests, they declined to investigate.
“I think voter ID is a great start to making the process more honest,” he said.
State Rep. Brandon Neuman (D-North Strabane) favors Saturday voting at the county courthouse. “People work on Tuesday,” Neuman said. “Early voting is something that should be implemented in Pennsylvania.”
Neuman also said he’d like to early motor-voter registration, as in allowing those who are too young to vote but old enough to drive to register in advance of turning 18. Sixteen- and 17-year-olds wouldn’t be able to cast ballots until they reached legal voting age.
State Sen. Matt Smith (D-Mt. Lebanon) quoted statistics of 67 percent voter turnout in the 2012 presidential elections, less than 50 percent in the 2010 gubernatorial election and fewer than 23 percent in the 2011 off-year election. One remedy he brought up was “no-fault” absentee voting, which he said has caught on in neighboring Ohio. He noted the Pennsylvania Senate has passed a bill allowing online voter registration, and he has introduced a bill that would allow military and overseas voters to allow voters to submit their ballots electronically. Current law allows counties to email a ballot to this group of voters, but the completed ballots must be returned by conventional mail.
State Rep. Peter J. Daley (D-California) harked back to both the advent of Nazi Germany, where a minority of voters were able to place Adolph Hitler in a position of power, and the heyday of the Soviet Union, which “would get 99 percent of the population to vote” for unopposed candidates. “Whoever said an election has to be one day?” he asked, “Have elections over several days. That makes sense.”
Identifying voters by thumbprints and eye scans are techniques he expects to be employed within 10 to 15 years.
Pamela Snyder (D-Jefferson) also answered using a question. “I can go online to pay my bills at my local bank, but I can’t go on line to register to vote? That doesn’t even make sense. In this day and age we should be able to make it easier to get people to the polls because 25 percent of the people should not be deciding who represents all the people.” She
Jesse White (D-Cecil) took issue with the lack of those willing to work at polling places “because we don’t pay them enough to sit there for 13, 14 hours.” He described the hourly compensation as “less than minimum wage,” and noted that if a poll fails to open due lack of staffing, voters are disenfranchised.
State Sen. Tim Solobay (D-Canonsburg) took a softer stance toward the voter ID law. “Everything we do, we have to show ID,” he said, but took issue with the the way the law was implemented and rolled out. He focused on campaign finance reform that would curtail contributions from those who live out-of-state, and said he thinks the number of polling places could be reduced by half or one-third.
Gov. Tom Corbett’s administration has asked McGinley to reconsider his decision.
Saccone was the sole Republican legislator present at the Spring Hill Suites meeting room. Hughes said after the gathering of nearly 50 people that State Rep. Jim Christiana (R-Beaver), whose 15th District now includes a large part of western Washington County, had a conflict that kept him from attending and that State John Maher (R-Upper St. Clair), whose 40th Legislative District includes Peters Township, had told he hoped to attend but he did not appear.
The legislative luncheon coincided with the founding of the League of Women Voters by suffragist Carrie Chatman Catt on Feb. 14, 1920, on the verge of the passage of the Constitutional amendment granting women in all states the right to vote.
“Six years from now, we’ll be 100,” Hughes said.
The league’s presence in Washington County doesn’t go back as far.
Joan Jessen, 89, of McMurray, identified herself as the only remaining charter member of the League of Women Voters of Peters Township, joining in 1963. The group eventually became the League of Women Voters of Washington County.