Nearly 10 percent of Pennsylvania’s registered voters do not have photo identification cards from the state transportation department and could be ineligible to vote in November under the state’s new Republican-backed voter ID law.
The Pennsylvania Department of State reported Tuesday that more than 758,000 registered voters lack a standard driver’s license or a non-driver photo ID. That’s 9.2 percent of the state’s 8.2 million voters.
In Philadelphia, where Democrats outnumber Republicans by about 6-1, 18 percent of the city’s registered voters do not have the state photo ID, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
The data could have implications in the presidential race, in which presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney has been trailing President Obama in Pennsylvania by an average of 8 percentage points.
To win the state, Democratic candidates traditionally must pile up big margins of victory in Philadelphia to offset Republican vote totals elsewhere in the state.
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