Last month Governor Tom Corbett signed the new Pennsylvania Voter ID bill into law. The legislation — an apparent gross infringement on democracy —  raises the barrier to vote by requiring all voters to present ID at polling stations starting this November. The types of ID allowed are: IDs issued by the U.S. Federal Government and Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (including staff IDs of such governments); IDs from personal care facilities; and IDs from PA higher education.

Governor Corbett claimed, “I am signing this bill because it protects a sacred principle, one shared by every citizen of this nation. That principle is: one person, one vote.”

In reality, though, what Governor Corbett’s legislation would do is prevent likely voters from being able to cast their ballot at the polls. Yet the measure will be enacted this fall nonetheless. And, at the very least, we need to make sure every Penn Stater can vote in 2014 when Tom Corbett is up for re-election. You know, because of this, this, this, and this.

Consider the current situation for Penn State students. As the Collegian pointed out last week, standard-issue Penn State ID+ cards don’t have an expiration date on them. That means that Penn State students who turn out to the polls next fall will no longer be able to just show a school ID to vote, as they have in previous years.

Pennsylvania will accept student IDs as a form of identification only if they include an expiration date. Penn and Lehigh have already made the adjustment to their ID cards, so what’s stopping Penn State?

Recently appointed UPUA Governmental Affairs chair Rachel Franceschino in UPUA should  keep pressing the University on this issue and ensure its completion.

Sure, it will annoy me when I return post-graduation for a basketball game or a free student concert, only to be denied because of an out-of-date ID… But that’s a small price to pay for democracy.