VOTER ID LAW OPPOSED IN PENNSYLVANIA (VIDEO)

We had a nice rally here in Philly on Thursday opposing this state’s voter ID law, and for all those who say it isn’t a racist law, that’s a little hard to swallow considering we have State. Rep. Daryl Metcalfe at the center of it. With video.

One People’s Project

PHILADELPHIA, PA–Hundreds of persons stretched across party lines and participated in a morning rally Thursday outside the Municipal Building prior to the first day of arguments in Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court for and against the state’s controversial Voter ID law, which was sponsored in the legislature by a race-baiting state representative and since its passing in March became part of the national controversy surrounding such bills and laws, many people viewing them as discriminatory.

Six justices, three Democrat and three Republican, addressed whether the law requiring photo identification from each voter should take effect for the Nov. 6 presidential election and whether it guarantees the right to vote. The high court normally has seven justices, but one, a Republican has been suspended from the court in May after being charged in a political corruption investigation. Should the Supreme Court deadlock with a 3-3 decision, the lower court which upheld the law will stand.

Prior to the case being argued in court, the National Association for the Advancement for Colored People (NAACP) sponsored a rally against the law that brought out union members, local community organizations like Fight for Philly, and local residents. Among those that spoke was State and Local NAACP President Jerry Mondesire, who promise to keep the fight going. “It’s a criminal offense against Democracy,” he said. “We’re not playing, we’ve never given up, and with God’s help we will have victory.”

NAACP President Ben Jealous, also spoke and noted that the fight against the law transcends party lines, and that all people must work together to defeat the law. “This is not a Republican thing, it’s an extremist thing,” he said, noting many battles against such laws have been won in courts and legislatures around the country. “None of should be sent back to the day when we had what can only be called a poll tax.”

Indeed, conservative commentator and Tea Party Keynote Speaker Lenny McAllister was also on hand to speak out against the bill noting that while he often has disagreements with the NAACP, he felt it was important to unite on this issue. “Let me be clear: there is a need for us to implement a proactive, intelligent, and empowering model to address voting in a 21^st century America that faces the challenges of transient populations, questions of naturalization and residency, and mistrust across the sharp partisan divide,” he told the crowd.” I believe in voter validation. I believe that a majority of Americans across political perspectives – conservatives like me on through – also believe in voter validation. However, I also believe that successful, non-discriminatory, and citizen-centric validation efforts are best implemented methodically and without the over-reach of jeopardizing the votes of hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvanians.”

The sponsor of the controversial bill was a similarly controversial Pennsylvania State Representative named Daryl Metcalfe (R-Butler). A City Paper article on the elected official noted that he is a politician so secretive about his associations and activities that he reportedly does not allow his office to be cleaned at night because of “secret papers” that could be found there, Metcalfe’s sorrid record includes efforts to pass legislation that would primarily adversely affect homosexuals, Muslims, Hispanics and Blacks. In addition to the Voter ID law, he has attempted to pass a constitutional amendment barring same-sex marriage, which has since been pulled, legislation modeled after Arizona’s anti-immigration SB1070 law, also known as the “Papers Please” law, and legislation requiring presidential candidates to prove they are American citizens, which was fueled by the discredited “birther” notion that President Barack Obama was not born in America. In 2006, he blocked a resolution honoring a Muslim organization because, in his words, “The Muslims do not recognize Jesus Christ as God.”

Metcalfe has also worked closely with those within the white supremacist circles in Pennsylvania. He has been a close associate of Daniel Smeriglio, of the anti-immigration group Voice of the People based in Hazelton, PA. Smeriglio, who has stood with Metcalfe when he publicly announce his anti-immigration legislation, and invited him to speak at a 2010 pro-Arizona rally in Phoenix, has maintained ties himself with neo-Nazis such as members of Keystone State “Skinheads” and American Third Position. In 2007, Metcalfe spoke at a anti-immigration rally sponsored by Voice of the People on the Statehouse steps in Harrisburg, of which the majority of those who attended were white supremacists. In both the Harrisburg and Phoenix rallies, major anti-immigration groups choose not to participate because of Smeriglio’s ties to hate groups, and Metcalfe was a last minute addition to the Phoenix rally, well after the controversy was raised.

Throughout the rally speakers appealed to the crowd to ensure that they have ID to vote in November should they fail to have the law repealed by the courts.