Stories involving the 2014 Pennsylvania gubernatorial race.
Independence Hall Tea Party PAC President, Don Adams, called on Governor Tom Corbett to immediately appeal Commonwealth Judge Bernard McGinley’s latest ruling on Voter ID to the full Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court or the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
“Governor Corbett should not appear to be sitting on the fence. The Governor signed this Voter ID law and should be vigorously defending it. His relative silence tells us a great deal about his leadership or, should I say, lack thereof,” said Mr. Adams, a resident of Cheltenham township.
“To boot, the Corbett Administration was charged with implementing the 2012 law and the court’s most recent ruling indicts the record of that implementation.
“At the very least, Governor Corbett should have already responded to the court’s criticisms.
“The fact that the Governor has yet to announce an appeal–and has not yet issued a strong rebuttal of the ruling–is extremely troubling.
“The Independence Hall Tea Party fought hard to get the Voter ID bill enacted into law–taking it on as a major legislative initiative in late 2009. If the Governor refuses to fight for it, why should we fight for his re-election?
“Friday’s ruling by Judge McGinley, a lifelong Democrat, struck down the recent law on its merits, but not its constitutionality under PA law.
“Bottom line, we are concerned that the Judge’s decision will allow voter fraud to continue in the commonwealth–particularly in Philadelphia and Allegheny Counties,” said Mr. Adams.
The false notion advanced by the Judge’s ruling, that there is no evidence of voter fraud in Pennsylvania, is completely incorrect.
“Even partisan Democrat pols like Ed Rendell and Chris Matthews have admitted that voter fraud runs rampant in the state’s largest county–Philadelphia.
In 2012, Philadelphia city commissioner Al Schmidt, a Republican, issued a 27-page report on irregularities he found in a sample of city precincts during that year’s primary. The report, which looked at only 1 percent of the city’s districts, found cases of double voting, voter impersonation, and voting by non-citizens, as well as 23 people who were not registered to vote but nonetheless voted. Schmidt also found reports of people who were counted as voting in the wrong party’s primary. “We identified hundreds of cases of voting irregularities [in select precincts] that warrant further investigation,” he concluded.
“A Philadelphia Inquirer poll, among others, has found that nearly 70% of PA residents favor Voter ID–but Judge McGinley has ruled against the common sense of the overwhelming majority of Pennsylvanians and their state legislators.
“That is the definition of legislating from the bench,” said Mr. Adams.
“If this decision is left intact, it will lead to further feelings of disenfranchisement among a majority of voters who believe their ballots are being undermined by the unchecked cheaters among us.
“If Judge McGinley’s decision is not immediately appealed by Governor Corbett, we will seriously consider withholding our support from the Governor,” said Mr. Adams.