HARRISBURG — A Pennsylvania judge has found the state’s voter ID law unconstitutional.

According to the ruling from Commonwealth Court Judge Bernard McGinley, the requirement to present an acceptable form of identification when voting in person “unreasonably burdens the right to vote.”

The requirement was challenged in court after Republican legislators passed it and Gov. Tom Corbett signed it into law by in March 2012.

Marian Schneider, a local attorney volunteering at
the “My Vote, My Right” awareness event on Smithfield
Street, September 18, 2012.

Opponents of the law celebrated the decision. House Democrats noted that their members had uniformly opposed the law. Senate Minority Leader Jay Costa, D-Forest Hills, said his members were pleased.

“Senate Democrats have said clearly and repeatedly that the voter ID law was an overreach that would result in the disenfranchisement of hundreds of thousands of voters,” he said in a written statement. “It was a law that should have never been approved and we are very happy that the court turned aside the measure today.”

He called the law a clear effort by Republicans to limit participation in Pennsylvania elections.

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