As a Commonwealth Court judge reconsiders the validity of the new voter ID law, a consumer advocacy group says the most common missing element missing on college IDs, including several in the Lehigh Valley, is an expiration date.
“It’s imperative these schools engage as many students as possible to ensure wide democratic participation.” said Angela Lee, of PennPIRG, a state consumer advocacy group.
Current student ID from an accredited state public or private institution of higher learning is valid if it contains the student’s name, photo and a current expiration date.
The voter ID law allows for those institutions to come into compliance by adding an expiration sticker to the ID, but some aren’t making enough of an effort, the group said.
A survey by the group found the following Lehigh Valley schools do not include expiration dates on their IDs:
DeSales University, Lehigh Carbon Community College, Northampton Community College, Lafayette College, Moravian College, Cedar Crest College and Muhlenberg College.
Penn State-Lehigh Valley was not on the list. Attempts to reach the school were unsuccessful.
Lehigh University is one of only 15 colleges statewide that include an expiration date on its student ID.
PennPIRG claims that over 28,000 students may still be in danger of being turned away at the polls. The group is urging colleges and universities to make their IDs compliant.