A ruling in the court fight over Pennsylvania's controversial voter ID case is expected August 13—and over 1.4 million votes could be at stake.
Civil rights groups are challenging the law, which would require voters to show an ID at the polls. Closing arguments wrapped up Thursday afternoon, and Rev. Al Sharpton explained on PoliticsNation, the trial didn't exactly end on a strong note for proponents of the law. Some sample quotes: disenfranchised voters are being told "tough luck," officials admitted they had "no plan B" for voters without ID, and the Secretary of State admitted: "I don't know what the law says."
Past estimates have put the number of voters who lack ID as high as 750,000, and they're disproportionately from Democratic-leaning groups. But a lawyer for the groups challenging the law said it could be as many as 1.46 million, if you include voters whose ID would be expired by November. That's over 15% of all voters in the state, making a mockery of Secretary of State Carol Aichele's assurance earlier this week that 99% of Pennsylvania voters have a valid ID.
Pennsylvania State Senator Daylin Leach (D) told Sharpton that during closing arguments, the state was reduced to arguing that "voting is not a fundamental right." It'll be interesting to see how that argument fares.