I wasn’t. But I had my license handy anyway. Why? Because I am tired of spelling my name. I often pull out my driver’s license instead of going through the tedious task of slowly spelling both my first and last names. It’s just easier. It didn’t even cross my  mind that I might be complying with a law that hasn’t even gone into effect yet.

But apparently, there’s been some controversy in our brave state of Pennsylvania. Some towns in the lower portion of the state, namely in the Easton area, set up signs at polling places, warning voters to have their IDs ready before entering. This resulted in voters leaving and not voting. 

There were also problems that at least one voter encountered at a video polling booth, when he pressed the screen to vote for President Obama and the vote registered for Mitt Romney. (Click here to see the video.)

When my husband and I arrived at our polling place, an older man was sitting inside the first set of glass doors with a large, bound print out of names. He said, “If you don’t want to get any more bothersome phone calls about the election, give me your name and I will cross you off the list.” Since we weren’t on the list, we had to assume that he was a poll watcher from one of the two parties since we are registered Independent because of working for a news media outlet.

Is this a violation? I’m not sure. But our polling place wasn’t an isolated incident. Elsewhere in the state, so-called poll watchers–people appointed by a designated party to observe at polling places–were kicked out for crossing the line and accused of trying to intimidate voters.