A strict voter ID law in Pennsylvania, enacted months before the 2012 general election (but never enforced), was struck down today by Commonwealth Court Judge Bernard McGinley, whose decision said that it "unreasonably burdens the right to vote."
While the law stood unenforced in the 2012 election, plaintiffs in last summer's 12-day trial claimed that it would disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of voters. Judge McGinley's ruling called it "a substantial threat" to qualified voters. While intended to prevent voter fraud at the polls, The American Civil Liberties Union, which led the legal challenge of the legislation, dismissed it as "nothing more than a voter suppression tool."
An appeal is expected in Pennsylvania's Supreme Court.