With talks on wider election-related legislation at a standstill, Gov. Tom Wolf said Thursday that his position on expanding Pennsylvania's voter identification requirements has not changed, and that he is against anything that would “suppress the vote.”
An expansion of Pennsylvania's voter ID requirements became one of the many aims of Republican lawmakers in wider-ranging election legislation that Wolf, a Democrat, vetoed last month.
When Wolf vetoed that bill June 30, he cited a list of reasons, including imposing additional voter ID restrictions, adding “excessive and burdensome” requirements on mail-in voting and setting earlier deadlines to register to vote and apply for a mail-in ballot.
Hours later, at a news conference, he said, “we can have that conversation” about whether Pennsylvania's existing voter ID requirements are enough.
On Thursday, he said, “I'm willing to have a conversation about voting reform, and I’m not sure what form that takes. ... But if you’re trying to suppress the vote, that’s just a nonstarter for me. If you want to increase access to the polls, if you want to make our democracy stronger, I’m all for it.”
Asked if he has seen any way of expanding Pennsylvania's voter ID law that he does not view as being more restrictive or suppressing the voter, he said, “I haven't seen any.”
