Pennsylvania is on Attorney General Eric Holder's target list when it comes to challenging Voter I.D. laws but a judge has ruled that the requirement of photo identification in order to cast a ballot is valid and has refused to grant an injunction on behalf of a Civil Rights group challenging the law.
A Commonwealth Court judge denied a bid by civil rights groups to block the new voter identification law from taking effect, delivering a first-round victory to Gov. Corbett and legislative Republicans who pushed the measure through this spring saying it was needed to prevent voter fraud.
Judge Robert E. Simpson's rejection of the plaintiff's request for an injunction was first reported in a short note at the end of the case docket sheet.
In his decision, Simpson said plaintiffs did not establish that "disenfranchisement was immediate or inevitable."
He also said plaintiffs did not prove that denying an injunction would cause "greater injury," and instead noted issuing one now would interfere with election machinery now in motion.
The ruling comes just one day after a new Washington Post poll shows 74 percent of Americans believe photo identification should be required to vote.