Secretary of Commonwealth Commends Penn State for Making Student IDs Acceptable for Voting

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa., Sept. 26, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Secretary of the Commonwealth Carol Aichele today commended Penn State University for making its student IDs acceptable for voting under Pennsylvania's voter ID law.

Beginning with this November's election, Pennsylvania voters are required to show valid photo ID to cast a ballot. 

"Penn State quickly took action to add expiration dates to ID cards for incoming students beginning with this past summer term, and making university issued stickers available for returning students, to insure all Penn State students are able to vote," Aichele said at a news conference in the Hetzel Union Building on Penn State's University Park Campus.

"Penn State is our state's largest university, and this action made sure any of the school's 90,000-plus students who don't have other acceptable ID can vote using their student ID," Aichele said, whose department oversees elections in Pennsylvania.

Under Pennsylvania's voter ID law, a number of IDs are acceptable, as long as they have an expiration date and are not expired. These include:

• Photo IDs issued by the U.S. Government of the Commonwealth of PA;
• PA driver's license or non-driver's license photo ID (these IDs are valid for voting purposes 12 months past expiration date)
• Valid U.S. passport;
• U.S. military ID—active duty and retired military (a military or veteran's ID must designate an expiration date or designate that the expiration date is indefinite).  Military dependents' ID must contain an expiration date;
• Employee photo ID issued by federal, state, Pennsylvania county or municipality;
• Photo ID from an accredited Pennsylvania public or private college, university, or seminary; and
• Photo ID issued by a Pennsylvania care facility, including long-term care facilities, assisted living facilities, or personal care homes.

"The University must do all it can to promote among our students an understanding of their rights and responsibilities as citizens, and they, in turn, must do all they can to exercise and honor those rights and responsibilities," Damon Sims, Penn State's vice president for Student Affairs said. "Our students should have much to say about the world which they will lead, and voting is a wonderful place to start."

Penn State students Maggie Quinn and Drew McGehrin, representing the College Republicans and College Democrats respectively, also attended the news conference to stress the importance of students voting.

Any registered voter who does not have an acceptable ID for voting may get one, free of charge, at any of 71 PennDOT driver license centers around the state.

More information is available at www.votespa.com, or by calling 1-877-VOTESPA (1-877-868-3772).

Media contact: Ron Ruman, 717-783-1621

SOURCE Pennsylvania Department of State