Candidate Might Not Be Allowed to Vote
Larry Maggi, who is challenging Tim Murphy for Congress, said he may not be able to vote because of the new Voter ID law.
Washington County Commissioner Larry Maggi—a candidate for Congress—said he may not be able to vote this November because of Pennsylvania’s new voter ID law.
Maggi’s name was released by the Department of State as having a different name on his voter registration than he does on his driver’s license.
His voter registration is listed as “Larry Maggi” while his driver’s license reads “Lawrence Owen Maggi.”
To raise awareness of how unprepared the state is to implement this law less than 90 days from today, Maggi created www.letlarryvote.com to encourage others to sign his petition and demonstrate support for an injunction to delay the law’s implementation.
According to the new law, the name on the ID must “substantially conform” to the name on the voter registration.
Because the law does not define “substantially conform,” Maggi said the election judge at each polling location will decide if the ID meets that standard when a ballot is challenged.
In the event that Maggi’s ballot is challenged, he will have to fill out an affidavit, submit a provisional ballot, and produce proof of residency within five days.
"Even though the Department of State has verified that Maggi meets the qualifications to run for federal office, the same department may deny him his right to vote," his campaign office said in a statement.
“As a Marine, I served our country to protect freedom and democracy for every American. The most basic freedom in a democracy is the right to vote," Maggi said. "Now, I am not even certain my vote will count this November. The state is not ready to implement this law if over 700,000 people do not have the proper ID to be eligible to vote—including veterans and lifelong residents.”
Roy
11:04 am on Friday, August 10, 2012
Good thing he has more than enough time to make the correction.
Mike Jones
11:29 am on Friday, August 10, 2012
Why should law-abiding voters be forced to spend the time to change their legal photo ID and/or voter registration?
Tracman
11:57 am on Friday, August 10, 2012
Why would you have different ID with different names on them?
May be so he could vote twice?
All of my ID has my full name on it, not my nickname.
And this guy wants to be my congressman?
Mike Jones
12:01 pm on Friday, August 10, 2012
I think we can all agree that Larry and Lawrence is the same name. The state is the one that apparently has a problem with it. How many other people are having the same issue?
Laura Ann
12:55 pm on Friday, August 10, 2012
I believe when you register to vote and apply for your driver's/state ID the form asks for your FULL legal name. My dad Jim is registered to vote as James. He drives as James. He pays taxes as James and so on. There is no reason he should be registered to vote as Larry. My cousin is John not Jonathan, just because the name is a common nickname the it not the same
Mike Jones
12:59 pm on Friday, August 10, 2012
If that's the case, I might've violated my voter registration application because I only included my middle initial and not my full middle name (as my driver's license shows). The point of the this law was to keep people from voting twice, but it seems to be causing more and more confusion for people who believe they already have the correct photo ID.
freeandequalpa
7:55 am on Saturday, August 11, 2012
If the goal of the law was to keep people from voting twice, the Legislature chose an odd way to accomplish that goal. With the exception of a drivers license, none of the other forms of acceptable ID (student ID, passport, etc.) contain your address. So a person who wanted to commit a crime by registering and voting in two different precincts could use his, say, passport to vote in both precincts. The photo ID law will not solve the problem of multiple voting.
Amanda Gillooly
6:25 pm on Friday, August 10, 2012
Hi! I edit the Canon-Mac site, where local officials have told me there have been no documented cases of voter fraud (at least in Washington County, where I work). I thought I would add that for context here.
freeandequalpa
7:57 am on Saturday, August 11, 2012
This is not limited to Washington County. The Commonwealth admitted in writing that there is no evidence of in person voter impersonation fraud state-wide:
http://freeandequalpa.wordpress.com/2012/07/18/the-commonwealth-stipulation/
b smith
7:43 pm on Friday, August 10, 2012
My mom runs one of the voter sites in bridgeville and everyone yes EVERYONE showed their ids when voting in the primary even though no one was asking for it. People thought they had to show it already. She commented to me that people were more then happy to show id.
Just because of the few random cases people are making this into an issue.
I have shown my id every time I have voted and I have lived in 5 different States and never thought it was CRAZY to show id maybe because I have nothing to hide.
Yeah there Larry, if your name is Lawerence then use your name for any id. Who cares what your friends call you. By that logic if your friends call you @$&#*$! Would you put that on your voter id? No.
Lets use some common sense here people, I know it seems to a limited amount of that out there these days. You have to show id to buy spraypaint but heaven forbid you have to show it to vote.
freeandequalpa
7:51 am on Saturday, August 11, 2012
For anyone interested, the legal arguments made by both sides at the close of the photo ID trial are summarized here: http://freeandequalpa.wordpress.com/2012/08/07/post-trials-briefs-and-closing-argument-transcript/