Pennsylvania’s new voter- identification law is unnecessary and will unduly burden the poor and elderly, a lawyer for a great-great-grandmother who is challenging the statute told a judge.

Viviette Applewhite, 93, is the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit filed in May by the American Civil Liberties Union. Applewhite, who once marched for civil rights with Martin Luther King Jr., said she won’t be able to vote in November under the law, which requires a photo ID to obtain a ballot. A weeklong hearing in the case, which includes nine other Pennsylvania voters, began today in Commonwealth Court in Harrisburg.

“The integrity of the electoral process is not enhanced by turning away people at the ballot box,” David Gersch, an attorney for the petitioners with the law firm Arnold & Porter LLP in Washington, told Judge Robert E. Simpson. “Voting is not a privilege. It’s a right. Why is it that we need all these hoops? It’s really not necessary. It’s harassment.”

Simpson said he will issue a ruling during the week of Aug. 13.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-07-25/pennsylvania-voter-law-put-to-test-in-grandmother-s-suit.html