This means voters will be asked to present an ID at the polls, but are not required to have them to vote. Although the law can be appealed to the Supreme Court for this election, it will be entirely implemented next year.

On March 14, Pennsylvania’s Governor Tom Corbett signed the Voter ID legislature into law. Less than two months later, nonpartisan advocacy groups such as, ACLU of Pennsylvania, the Advancement Project, the Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia and the Washington DC law firm of Arnold & Porter LLP filed a lawsuit against the law in the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania.

Rejecting the advocacy groups claims that the law disenfranchised voters of Pennsylvania, the State judge upheld the Voter ID Law on August 15. Opposers of the law appealed. Exactly a month after the State Judge upheld the law, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court judge hears the arguments in an appeal of the law.

The Supreme Court, ruling 4-2 on September 18, returned the case to the lower court to decide whether eligible voters will be able to obtain the proper IDs if the law remains upheld. Commonwealth Court Judge Robert E. Simpson, who ruled on August 15 that the law did not disenfranchise voters, has been asked by the Supreme Court to present an opinion on the availability of alternative IDs by Tuesday, October 2.

In April, PennPIRG, a nonpartisan group that fights for the rights and interests of consumers, released a study that found 95 of the 110 of Pennsylvania campuses did not comply with the new Voter ID law policy, preventing over half a million students in Pennsylvania from voting at the polls during the 2012 Presidential Election.

On September 19, PennPIRG and other non-partisan groups hosted a press conference at the Liberty Bell Center to present an update on ways the Voter ID law has affected many college campuses in Pennsylvania. A new study shows that a majority of colleges and universities are complying with the law; making it certain students vote this election year. However, many students from other colleges and universities still have to “jump through hoops” in order to obtain photo IDs, according to PennPIRG’s State Advocate, Angela Lee. Under the Voter ID Law, student IDs are acceptable if they include the name of the student, name of the institution, a photo of the student, and an expiration date. If students’ universities comply with the law, students will have no problem exercising their right to vote. Those universities that refuse to comply with the law will make it difficult for out-of-state students to vote in the state of Pennsylvania in November.

According to PennPIRG’s Voter ID report, 45 colleges/universities in the state of Pennsylvania had already issued compliant student IDs under the new law. Pittsburgh universities, such as the University of Pittsburg, Carlow University, Carnegie Mellon University, and Chatham University were a part of the 45 universities already in compliance.

Over five months, there has been significant progress in relation to colleges and universities’ compliance to the law; however there are 15 universities that have no plan to change its IDs – leaving 28,000 students not able to exercise their fundamental right in November. It is an obvious fact that out-of-state students are more susceptible to the law than in-state students and according to The Chronicle of Higher Education; Pennsylvania has the most out of state students in the country.

The elderly and advocacy groups are not the only ones fighting; college students are also waging a war against the Voter ID law in Pennsylvania. Even though some colleges are still non-compliant with the law, students refuse to let their voice be muzzled. Many students across Pennsylvania refuse to place and expiration date on their vote for an expiration date on their college IDs. One of those students, Shelby Rolla, a senior at Delaware Valley College in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, mentioned during the PennPIRG press conference “protecting students voting rights is as easy as distributing expiration date stickers.”

Many student organizations, specifically political and community service, are hosting voter registration drives on college campuses. Temple University is one of many schools that is compliant with the Voter ID law, recently distributing new identification cards which now include an expiration date. Temple’s student government recently hosted its first annual TSG (Temple Student Government) Week, which consisted of a Get Out the Vote Fair, where students were able to both register to vote for the first time, and register using their local Philadelphia address.

As Temple moves into its sixth week of classes, neighboring school Drexel University has just began. Unlike Temple, many Drexel student IDs do not have expiration dates. With Pennsylvania’s voter registration deadline being October 9th, that leaves only 9 days for Drexel’s Lindy’s Center of Civil Engagement to help students who would like to qualify to vote in November’s election.

Who’s responsibility do you believe this ID issue fall under? Should institutions be responsible for informing students and issuing new IDs or should students inform themselves?

As the 2012 Presidential Election draws near, I urge students across the United States to be agents of change, informing your campuses of the importance of voting and its affect on them. It is never too late to become leaders on your campuses, especially when you recognize the power of your voices. Many of you have been informing your fellow classmates of the Voter ID law, registering them to vote, and reminding those registered to vote, but remember that your leadership extends beyond the realm of this Election. The time is NOW!

Is your college/university compliant with the Voter ID Law?