PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE Editorial: ….In both this year’s case and Patterson, plaintiffs argued that making it particularly hard for some voters to prove their eligibility violates the Pennsylvania Constitution’s guarantee of “free and equal” elections. The trial judge in the voter ID case shot down that argument. In language quoted directly from Patterson, he explained that elections “are free only to the qualified electors of the Commonwealth” and “the Legislature must establish … the means of ascertaining who are and who are not the qualified electors.”
This quote from Patterson certainly sounds fair and reasonable — and like a strong basis for approving the new voter ID law. But not so fast. A shocking piece of history is lurking beneath that smooth legal conclusion.
Reading the full opinion in Patterson exposes it as a blatant example of the anti-democratic voter suppression alleged by plaintiffs in the current voter ID case… (more)
