{"id":1358,"date":"2011-01-14T10:29:08","date_gmt":"2011-01-14T15:29:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unionvilletimes.com\/?p=1358"},"modified":"2011-01-14T10:29:25","modified_gmt":"2011-01-14T15:29:25","slug":"barrar-to-renew-push-for-voter-id","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=1358","title":{"rendered":"Barrar to renew push for voter ID"},"content":{"rendered":"

State Rep. will get behind new effort to combat voter fraud, vetoed by Rendell in 2010<\/strong><\/em><\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

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State Rep. Steve Barrar said he make another attempt in 2011 to gain passage of bill that would require voters to show photo ID, such as pictured above, when voting. A similar measure was vetoed by Gov. Ed Rendell.<\/p><\/div>\n

By Mike McGann<\/strong>, Editor, UnionvilleTimes.com<\/em><\/span><\/span>
\nAlthough the initial headlines may be only about finance and the budget gap, expect the state government to be busy in 2011, with a new governor, Tom Corbett, and a new GOP majority in the state legislature.<\/p>\n

One local legislator, Steve Barrar (R-160), who represents Chadds Ford, Birmingham and Pocopson in the Unionville area, while acknowledging the ongoing fiscal crisis, notes that he has a fairly lengthy agenda heading into the new legislative session.<\/p>\n

Barrar, who takes over as chair of the Veterans\u2019 Affairs and Emergency Preparedness Committee, said this week he plans to be active on a number of fronts, but topping the list is a renewed effort for reform of voter rules and a new effort to require voters to show identification at the polls.<\/p>\n

The eight-term state representative is pushing to revive elements of a bill passed by both houses of the legislature in 2010 but vetoed by outgoing Gov. Ed Rendell. The bill provided for free state IDs for those who could not afford the $10 fee and would have allowed any number of alternative ID forms, including a current PECO bill.<\/p>\n

Pointedly, Barrar said he was pushing to eliminate voter fraud \u2014 an issue particularly in statewide elections as the remnants of old urban political machines have used \u201cstreet money\u201d to generate votes. While such activities might be connected to Philadelphia or Pittsburgh, they happen in Chester County as well \u2014 as countywide political campaigns in both parties have been pressed for thousands of dollars to \u201cget the vote out\u201d \u2014 political code words for buying votes in places such as Coatesville. He cited concerns about college students voting at home via absentee ballot and then voting where they go to school, as well as some illegal aliens casting votes.
\nBarrar says that requiring photo ID at the polls would virtually end these abuses.<\/p>\n

Barrar said he allowed the bill to be a little softened last year, with the idea of getting bipartisan support. Don\u2019t expect that in 2011, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI won\u2019t allow it to be watered down,\u201d he said, noting that he\u2019d prefer require an actual photo ID, rather than accepting utility bills as the final version of last year\u2019s bill would have allowed.<\/p>\n

Aside from offering free IDs to those who cannot afford one, Barrar said that voters without ID will be allowed to cast provisional ballots \u2014 and if they\u2019re able to prove their ID, their votes will be counted.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not out to disenfranchise anyone,\u201d he said. \u201cBut there have been abuses of the system. There\u2019s nothing more sacred than the integrity of the vote and we want to ensure that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Along the same vein, Barrar, a Navy veteran, said he is concerned about making sure votes from actively serving military are counted. He pointed to those serving on submarines \u2014 which often stay underwater for months at a time \u2014 and those serving in remote outposts in places such as Afghanistan that are having trouble getting ballots back in time to be counted.<\/p>\n

While he doesn\u2019t have a ready fix \u2014 beyond extended the period for accepting military absentee ballots by five days \u2014 he says he wants to sit down with military authorities and come up with a system that gives proper access to voting to these active duty military personnel \u2014 and said that some sort of secure computer system could be looked at.<\/p>\n

Voting issues aren\u2019t the only issue on Barrar\u2019s agenda. He said that he\u2019d like end teachers’ strikes \u2014 that teachers’ unions ability to force a 15-day strike gives them the upper hand in negotiations with school boards.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it gives them an undue advantage,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Although some have mentioned binding arbitration as possible alternative, Barrar said he wouldn\u2019t support that \u2014 as it has been used with various public employees in neighboring states \u2014 teachers, police officers and others, and has proved costly to municipalities and counties.<\/p>\n

Story continues on next page<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

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Story continues from previous page<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Barrar said he opposes efforts to charge local towns for State Police coverage and argued that resources had been pulled out of suburban counties to bolster State Police presence in Philadelphia, despite the city\u2019s own police force, which receives a large amount of state funding.<\/p>\n

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State Rep. Steve Barrar (R-160)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s nothing more than a tax increase for the majority of people outside of Philadelphia,\u201d he said. Worse, he said, the funds proposed would have gone into the general fund, not into paying for State Police services.<\/p>\n

As part of his new committee assignment, Barrar said he plans to work to increase a grant program for local volunteer fire companies \u2014 which is due to end in 2012. The $25 million grant program is used by fire companies to buy or repair equipment \u2014 some 2,600 fire and ambulance companies participated in the most recent year. Barrar said he wants to extend and expand the grant program, bringing the total up to $35 million.<\/p>\n

While he knows it might seem counter-intuitive to talk about adding spending at a time when there is so much focus on cutting, Barrar said that local volunteer fire companies save taxpayers billions of dollars \u2014 so the grant program is one of the rare expenditures that saves money in the long run.<\/p>\n

\u201cAccording to estimates, volunteer fire companies save taxpayers some $2 billion, so it really makes sense to help these organizations and find an extra $10 million to help them continue serving the community,\u201d he said.
\nBarrar he said he supports a move to revisit the Castle Doctrine \u2014 the codifying a homeowner\u2019s right to defend his home with deadly force \u2014 vetoed by Rendell last year.<\/p>\n

He also supports a bill, also vetoed by the outgoing governor, that would give first responders a \u201cpresumption of exposure to cancer-causing materials\u201d \u2014 meaning they would get medical coverage if diagnosed with cancer. Currently, first-responders like firefighters must prove that they were exposed to carcinogens in the line of duty to receive benefits.<\/p>\n

Aside from those issues, Barrar said that the legislature and new governor Tom Corbett must focus on job creation in the commonwealth \u2014 and whether state regulations are strangling job creation.<\/p>\n

\u201cOver the next two years, we\u2019re going to be looking at a lot of regulations, whether they\u2019re helping or hurting,\u201d he said. Revenue, Labor and the Department of Environmental Protections could be among the first targets, he said.<\/p>\n

He allowed that he an his colleagues feel the pressure to find ways to make the state\u2019s economy grow \u2014 and create jobs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

State Rep. will get behind new effort to combat voter fraud, vetoed by Rendell in 2010 By Mike McGann, Editor, UnionvilleTimes.com Although the initial headlines may be only about finance and the budget gap, expect the state government to be busy in 2011, with a new governor, Tom Corbett, and a new GOP majority in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1362,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,7],"tags":[65,69,30,189],"class_list":["post-1358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-featured","tag-barrar","tag-legislature","tag-state-representative","tag-voter-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1358","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1358"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1358\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1362"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}