Thursday, May 03, 2012

Pennsylvania Voter ID Law: Viviette Applewhite, ACLU, NAACP File Lawsuit

Pennsylvania Voter ID Law: Viviette Applewhite, ACLU, NAACP File Lawsuit: Civil rights advocates have been fighting this year against controversial voter ID laws in a number of states across the country. On Tuesday, 93-year-old Viviette Applewhite became the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit filed by the ACLU and NAACP challenging the voter ID law in Pennsylvania.

Under the new law, which Gov. Tom Corbett (R) signed in March, Pennsylvania will issue free photo ID cards to voters who can produce birth certificates or other proof of identify.

But Applewhite, who marched in Macon, Ga., with Martin Luther King during the height of the civil rights movement and first voted in 1960, casting her ballot for John F. Kennedy, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer, doesn't have a drivers license. She never learned to drive, and she lost her other IDs when her purse was stolen years ago. She has asked the state for a copy of her birth certificate, but the state can't seem to find it. As a result, she can't get a photo ID that will allow her to vote in the November election.