Just how cynical and evil can you get?
On the same day a judge cleared the way for the state's new voter identification law to take effect, the Corbett administration abandoned plans to allow voters to apply online for absentee ballots for the November election and to register online to vote.
A spokesman for the Department of State said county elections officials told the agency that implementing the new online initiatives as well as voter ID requirements was too much to handle less than three months before the election.
Let me get this straight:
On Thurs., a Judge ruled that the PA Voter ID law could stand because, among other things, absentee balloting specifically, could ensure everyone eligible to vote could do so in November.
On the same date, PA dropped efforts to improve absentee ballot access, because implementing these measures was "too much to handle" less than three months before the election."
Doesn't this action by Corbett undermine at least two rationales for the Simpson Decision upholding the law?
1. That absentee balloting will assist compliance with Voter ID requirements.
2. That there was insufficient evidence of bad faith by the legislature and government to invalidate the law.
Doesn't this reveal the inherent evil of rushing through Voter ID laws just months before an election?
PA is saying there is enough time to implement a program to make voting more difficult, but not enough time to implement programs to ease voting.
The right adjectives elude me in describing this: Kafkaesque? Soviet? Orwellian?
h/t ABL at Balloon Juice.