Penn. To DOJ: Forget Voter ID, What About The New Black Panther Party?

While the state said it would provide a number of documents related to the voter ID law if the Justice Department signs a confidentiality agreement, General Counsel James Schultz said in a letter to the Justice Department that it would not provide information backing the state’s (unsupported) claim that 99 percent of residents had a valid form of photo identification.

“In light of the absence of authority for your request for information, I question whether your inquiry is truly motivated by a desire to assess compliance with federal voting rights laws, or rather is fueled by political motivation,” Schultz, who works for Gov. Tom Corbett (R), wrote in the letter.

Schultz took a shot at the Obama administration in the first paragraph of his letter, writing that he was “optimistic” when he saw the DOJ letter that it “marked the long overdue renewal of the Department of Justice’s previously abandoned review of the 2008 voter intimidation case in Philadelphia, a review that would be particularly well-timed in this presidential election year, as I trust Attorney General Holder and the Department of Justice share the Commonwealth’s commitment to ensuring that no violation of the voting rights of Pennsylvanians be tolerated.”