Keystone Today

Pennsylvania’s Republican state lawmakers have welcomed Gov. Tom Wolf’s (D) abrupt reversal in his position on voter ID, and they are hopeful that negotiations with his office will lead to reforms they say will secure the state’s election procedures.

“It is encouraging that Gov. Wolf is now open to negotiating with lawmakers to enact real and meaningful election reforms -- including voter ID measures that are favored by a strong majority of Pennsylvanians,” Senate President Jake Corman (R-Bellefonte) told Keystone Today. “I am hopeful that the governor’s change of heart will offer a fresh start toward creating a more secure election system that all Pennsylvanians can believe in.”

In late June, Wolf vetoed sweeping election legislation, House Bill 1300, which contained a voter ID provision along with other provisions aimed at securing the state’s elections after new voting practices, including widespread mail-in ballots, were ushered in during the COVID-19 pandemic. Wolf had indicated he would veto the bill even before it reached his desk, contending the true intent of the legislation was not to secure elections but suppress voters, particularly minority voters.

Sen. Jake Corman | Wikimedia Commons

Then on July 20, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported that Wolf had reversed his position on voter ID.

“But in a shift, Wolf now says he’s open to some stricter ID rules, including requiring ID for mail voting,” the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. “The reason he previously drew a red line, he said, is because he didn’t trust that Republicans would negotiate in good faith and believed they were only interested in voter suppression.”

Democratic critics argue that Pennsylvania Republicans only became interested in changing election rules after former President Donald Trump lost the state by 80,000 votes in the 2020 election. Trump had carried the state in 2016, and there were no comparable calls from Democrats to change the voting process. 

Sponsor of HB 1300, Rep. Seth Grove (R-Dover), said he was “dumbfounded” when he heard that the governor reversed himself on the matter. Grove had asked for the governor’s office for input regarding the proposed election law changes after four months of hearings by the House State Government Committee, which he chairs.

Grove told the Inquirer, “If Wolf wanted a ‘reasonable approach,’ he should have put forth his own ideas as part of the policy-making process. This entire issue is on his administration being unwilling to come to the table and have discussions on elections.”

It’s unclear what form any negotiations on election reform might take in the fall. After the veto of HB 1300, Republican leaders, who preside over strong majorities in both chambers, said they would move provisions in the legislation that garnered strong bipartisan support. They will continue to push a constitutional amendment that would place a voter ID provision on the ballot.

The Republicans scored a recent victory, appealing directly to the voters on another proposal blocked by a gubernatorial veto. In the May primaries, the voters approved two proposed constitutional amendments that curtailed the governor’s emergency powers.

Other Democrats have recently changed their positions on voter ID, including former Georgia politician Stacey Abrams who recently came out in support of a proposal by West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, a moderate Democrat, according to The New York Post.

Polls show that voters support voter ID laws by a wide margin. The results of a Pennsylvania poll by Franklin & Marshall College, which were made public just days before Wolf’s veto, reveal that 74% of voters support photo ID mandates, including 77% of independent voters.

“There’s a reason why common-sense voter integrity measures such as photo ID and signature verification for mail-in ballots are so popular -- they help ensure a fair, secure and transparent system of elections voters can trust,” said Ken Cuccinelli, national chairman of the conservative Election Transparency Initiative. Cuccinelli, the former Republican attorney general of Virginia, was commenting on Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro applauding the Wolf veto. 

“Not only did the Wolf-Shapiro veto put them at odds with their constituents on these key protections, but they also thumbed their noses at measures to bolster voter access, including expanded voter registration deadlines, reduced wait times at polling places, assistance for disabled voters, enhanced training and higher pay for election workers and so much more,” Cuccinelli said, according to Election Transparency Initiative.