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Pennsylvania Voter ID Coalition Officially Opens Statewide Operations Center

07/19/2012

The Pennsylvania Voter ID Coalition consists of over 100 statewide, regional and local organizations conducting a rigorous non-partisan Voter ID education campaign to help Pennsylvania’s 8.2 million registered voters be prepared to vote on Tuesday, November 6 -- regardless of their party affiliation or the candidates they support. The coalition’s Operations Center will be the central clearinghouse for non-partisan field activities, starting in Philadelphia on Monday, July 23 and expanding across Pennsylvania. Over 758,000 state voters, including 187,000 in Philadelphia, do not have the most common forms of photo ID that will enable them to vote when the law goes into effect on November 6.

The public and members of the media are invited to the Operations Center’s Open House.  Food and wireless access to the Internet are available.         

Saturday, July 21, 11 a.m. – 3 p.m.  

310 W. Chelten Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19144.  Phone: 215-848-1283.

Background: Joe Certaine, former city Managing Director and legendary field operative, and the non-partisan Committee of Seventy are co-conveners of the growing Pennsylvania Voter ID Coalition. The coalition’s non-partisan education efforts have taken on an increased sense of urgency with newly-released state data showing that 9.2% (758,000) of PA’s 8.2 million registered voters do not have a driver’s license or a non-driver’s photo ID, the two most common forms of photo ID that will be accepted at the polls on November 6. In Philadelphia, 18% of the just over 1.2 million registered voters – or nearly one in five – do not have these IDs. An all-out effort is needed to ensure that every voter who wants to vote in November is able to do so.  There is no time to waste. It takes several steps to get a photo ID for voting if a voter doesn’t have one.  

Significant features of the PA Voter ID Coalition’s efforts, which are rapidly expanding across the state, include:    

•    Conducting a highly structured citywide field operation involving volunteers going door-to-door to reach voters in every neighborhood of Philadelphia.   

•    Keeping voter ID issues front and center though web and mobile apps, and through traditional and social media.

•    Hosting an Election Protection Hotline – 1-866-OUR-VOTE (1-866-687-8683) – for voters throughout Pennsylvania to get answers to their Voter ID Questions: Trained volunteers will answer the hotline from Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. All messages will be promptly returned.

•    Producing extensive non-partisan Voter ID educational materials: The Operations Center has detailed and up-to-the-minute information about the voter ID law, including materials dedicated to targeted voting constituencies most likely not to have a photo ID for voting, who tend to be older, young,, poor, disabled or new Americans. These materials are also available at: www.seventy.org/voterID.

•    Helping voters get a photo ID for voting: Coalition members sponsor regular clinics to help voters get a photo ID for voting from a PA Department of Transportation Driver’s License Center if they don’t already have one. Check www.seventy.org/voter ID for a calendar of clinics and other voter ID events.

•    Training speakers: Trained coalition speakers are available to come to any community group, block party or gathering of voters to talk about the voter ID law and to answer voters’ questions about how to get a photo ID for voting.  

•    Preparing for November 6: Thousands of trained non-partisan volunteers will fan out to Philadelphia’s over 1,600 voting divisions to help make the city’s first voting experience under the voter ID law go as smoothly as possible.


The PA Voter ID Coalition is a group of state, regional and local organizations conducting a non-partisan campaign to educate Pennsylvania voters about the state’s new voter ID law and to assist voters who need to get an acceptable ID in order to vote. For more information, call the coalition’s Operations Center at 215-848-1283.    

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