14 Apr 2012 4:50 pm
Disenfranchising the Amish In Pennsylvania Religious questions for Pennsylvania voter ID law draw fire.Nothing is sacred about your religion when it comes to getting a state identification card without a photo. The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation offers ID cards for those with religious objections to being photographed. The Amish and certain sects of the Mennonite community are among those who object to having their photos taken because of their faith. To get a nonphoto ID for religious reasons, applicants must answer a series of 18 questions that delve deeply into their faiths and other personal information. Now that Pennsylvania has passed one of the nations toughest voter ID laws to prevent voter fraud, the scope of the questions is drawing criticism. The first item on PennDOTs form asks applicants to describe your religion. It is followed by more questions that devout followers might struggle to answer, and some that inquire about the lives of family members. How many members are there of your religion? How many congregations? Whats the process by which you came to the religion? What religious practices do you observe? Do other family members hold the same religious beliefs? Submitting that form, once notarized, is not enough. Applicants must fill out another form. If they lack proof of identification, yet another form must be completed before a nonphoto ID is issued. The ID is valid for four years, and the renewal process is simpler. Going through this process is essential if those who hold religious objections to being photographed want to vote. Anyone who wants to vote must show identification in the November election.Two Republican state Senators (who supported the voter ID law) have expressed concerns about what it takes to get a nonphoto ID, and say that the questions seem intrusive.State Sen. Mike Folmer, R-Lebanon County, said the questions seem intrusive, and he wonders why all that information is needed. They are going to be keeping them from the polls, keeping American citizens from the polls, Folmer said. Thats what Im concerned about. That form is an overreach in my opinion, said Sen. Mike Brubaker, R-Lancaster County. I dont want persons for religious reasons not to have a photo taken, to go through a process that is any more cumbersome than absolutely necessary to get the proper identification to be able to vote. Those concerns prompted Brubaker and his chief of staff to meet with PennDOT officials Friday to understand why such a cumbersome process is required.Lebanon and Lancaster Counties? Now why do those sound familiar? That couldn't be where the Amish live could it?G. Terry Madonna, a political scientist at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, said a lot of Amish and Mennonites dont vote, but when they do, they tend to vote Republican. OIC. So that's why they're concerned. I doubt if they have the same concern for people who tend to vote Democratic being disenfranchised. As a matter of fact, I know they don't.