Slate updates on the VoterID trial today:

[Ruby the Liberal]

Dave Weigel is covering the suit for Slate and sent out the following stories to his followers today:

1. How Not To Defend Voter ID
Pennsylvania state officials offer one unconvincing defense of the controversial new law after another.

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2012/08/pennsylvania_officials_struggle_to_explain_how_the_state_s_new_voter_id_law_would_actually_work_.html

2. Voter ID on Trial: Philadelphia Election Worker Fears "Chaos"

http://www.slate.com/blogs/weigel/2012/08/01/voter_id_on_trial_philadelphia_election_worker_fears_chaos_.html

3. Voter ID on Trial: The Hans von Spakovsky Wars

http://www.slate.com/blogs/weigel/2012/08/01/voter_id_on_trial_the_hans_von_spakovsky_wars.html

He said they finished early with testimony today and that closing arguments will happen tomorrow. I hope that second link about the "soft-run" during that primary had the attention of the people who will be making the decision.

[JPZenger]

1. Excerpt

Thanks for posting. Here's an excerpt from slate:

"the petitioners managed to drag David Burgess, deputy secretary for planning and service delivery, into a discussion of mismatched state voter databases. Attorney Marian Schneider got Burgess to count up all of the discrepancies, voter by voter, without context.

“Adding these three numbers together,” she said, “the 758,000 that you publicly disclosed don't match, plus the 130,000 that did not actually match, plus the 574,000 whose ID is expired and won't be valid for voting today—adding all three of those together equals 1,463,758?”

“That's correct,” said Burgess.

“So your analysis shows that there's 1,463,758 voters who don't have an ID that is valid for voting, is that right?”

“Today, correct,” said Burgess, agreeing to a higher possible number of disqualified voters than the state has ever contemplated."

[Ruby the Liberal]

2. Ouch. Update from Dave Weigel:

@daveweigel
In closing argument, petitioners play video of Rep. Turzai saying ID law will help Romney #PAvoterID

[Pat Riot]

3. Final Smack of a Big Smack-Down.

Will this be resolved before the election? Seems to be moving along faster than I'd expect.

[Ruby the Liberal]

4. Looks like Aug 13?

Last edited Thu Aug 2, 2012, 07:41 PM - Edit history (1)

"Judge Simpson he'll put up #PAvoterID decision by August 13".

No idea what that means though, and whether there is time for the inevitable appeal.

Edit - here is the final article from today's wrapup:

Voter ID Is No Big Deal—Really
That’s what the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania wants you to believe.

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2012/08/pennsylvania_voter_id_law_officials_argue_that_getting_an_id_is_only_an_inconvenience_and_hardly_anyone_will_be_hurt_by_it_.html