Most PA. College IDs cannot be used to meet State's VoterID requirement - more voter suppression

http://www.mcall.com/news/local/elections/mc-pa-college-voter-id-20120330,0,5072770,full.story

Front page article in the Allentown Morning Call. Excerpts:

"The voter ID law included student identification cards issued by Pennsylvania colleges on a short list of acceptable forms of identification — as long as those IDs have expiration dates. The problem is, most college IDs don't.

Voting rights advocates worry that students like Wexler and her New York friends won't learn they can't vote for the next president until they show up Nov. 6, because their college IDs and out-of-state driver's licenses won't grant them access. Some of the state's largest schools — including Penn State, Temple and the State System of Higher Education colleges, such as Kutztown and East Stroudsburg universities — issue student IDs that can't be used at the polls under the new law. DeSales University and Cedar Crest and Lafayette colleges are in the same boat.

State system spokesman Kenn Marshall said modern college IDs are like credit cards. For flexibility, schools simply deactivate them when students are no longer enrolled....The same goes for most of the state's private colleges and universities, said Mary Young, director of government relations for the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Pennsylvania.

How did this happen? ... "It was a conscious decision that we made," said Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, R-Butler, chairman of the House State Government Committee. "If a university wants to issue an ID that can be used in voting, they will issue an ID with an expiration date."