News conference held on voter ID card

Carol Aichele, secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, commended IUP for putting expiration dates on student I-Cards at Thursday’s press conference in Sutton Hall.

IUP made the change in anticipation of the new voter ID law which will require voters to show a valid photo ID when they vote in person.

“IUP has stepped to the front of the line,” Aichele said.

Only certain photo IDs will be accepted such as a Pennsylvania driver’s license, U.S. passport, and I-Cards, as long as they have an expiration date on them. A complete list of acceptable IDs can be found at aclupa.org/voterID.

Aichele said that, although the law has not yet passed the state Supreme Court, it was modeled after laws in other states that are currently in use. It is expected to apply during this year’s presidential election.

Andrew Longacre, student member of the IUP Council of Trustees, said during the conference that all new I-Cards have the expiration date printed on the back, making them valid for voting.

He said that students with older cards can get expiration dates on their cards by going to the I-Card office located in the HUB.

President Michael Driscoll said the decision to add the expiration date was quick, and that the university is committed to helping students vote.

He thanked the I-Card vending office and others who were instrumental in helping make the change.

Aichele said that the purpose of the new voter ID law is to make sure the elections are clean.  

She said that the law won’t be as important during the presidential election as it will be during smaller local elections.

“Our focus is one person, one vote,” she said.

During local elections, the winner can be decided by a much smaller amount of votes.

Sometimes there is a problem of “over votes,” which is when the voting poll turns in more ballots than they have signatures, she said.

Aichele said to imagine how a person would feel if they were to lose in a race that had an over vote situation.

The law will let people know that the election was clean, she said.