you have to have a voter i.d. it very hard to believe that all of these poeople don't have bank accounts and are working on -- >> but you see the groups outline there had. >> but it's not a trouble to get an i.d. if you can't, i'm sure someone will be glad to take you. >> to show you how absurd that is. >> we have to let it go there. >> it's 160,000 people in pennsylvania. >> we've had a good conversation, rick tyler, governor rendell, thank you so much for your time. i hope we can continue this conversation at a later date. >>> now, making news this morning, the british government is deploying 1,200 additional troops to help protect olympic venues. this after the security contractor failed to supply enough guards. more than 18,000 military personnel are now involved in securing the games, which begin right here on msnbc wednesday. that's tomorrow at 10:30 a.m. eastern. we'll have the opening rounds of the women's soccer. so stick around for that. british prosecutors are charging former news international executiv

this voter i.d.hing could be solved with one thing and i'll tell you why i say that's a great idea. it probably would include more people in the voting and when you have a social security number it could have the one, two, it could tell the age of the person and you can't have somebody voting and you have it and all and that would solve -- that right there and it would be honest because you know, you only have one vote per number and you get it from the social security administration. the only thing i would like is that republican voters need to ask questions as to why are the republicans doing this? now i know they may think it's for their benefits, but i do know they want to take over for the power and there's a reason and i believe the social security and medicare. i believe they do want to get rid of it and those people making $30,000 and $40,000 who are in their 40s and think they'll have it, they're not and if the republicans get in there they'll try to use the money to deal with the deficit. >

i.d., we've been working with nursing homes to get people new i.d. it could be military i.d. other forms. right now, i don't have it here in front of me. >> joining me an opinion writer for the new york city times and kelly wilkinson, an intern here for "the last word" who attends college in pennsylvania. let's take a look at the list of photo i.d.s that that are acceptable and valid. federal issue photo i.d. pennsylvania driver's silence, passpo passport, u.s. military i.d. goth employee, college photo i.d. photo i.d. issued by a pennsylvania care facility. and kelly, you have a college photo i.d. in pennsylvania but you recently discovered it wasn't going to be good enough. tell us about that. >> when i first heard about the voter suppression laws, i looked on the votespa website and i realized even though i do have a college i.d., i don't have an expiration date on my i.d., as you can see on the screen. therefore, i'm not able to vote. however, the law does allow for colleges to issue stickers that have the expiration on the sticker in order to put that on to the i.d. so i

i have a problem with with voteer i.d. i am for voteer i.d.le voters don't have a driver's license don't have that kind of i.d. >> eliot: i'll pick up on something that you just said. you're viewed as a liberal you said you're not opposed to the notion of voteer i.d. in principle as long as it's even handed and not limiting those to vote. >> only eligible voters should vote. unfortunately, the new laws hold up that premise but it's an illusion. >> eliot: it's calculated and the magnitude is something that your organization focused on when you looked at whether people will be able to get these i.d.s. what are the burdens being placed on people and what have you found? >> it's very disturbing. the supreme court said that a state that has a restrictive voter i.d. law has to make free i.d. available to everyone. problem solved, right? not really. what it turns out is that for many americans very hard to get the supposedly free i.d. what we found in this new study which is quite exhaustive, in these ten states, 10 million people live far away from

and the requirements are that you need a passport or a military i.d. or a government i.d. and the state just announced that you could -- they're having a new voting photo i.d. but only half of the pennsylvania counties have such a center where you can get one. and it remains to be seen whether hundreds of thousands of people can be processed in just a few months to get this special new i.d. let alone know they need a photo i.d. to vote. >> luke, are people saying this could make a difference? look at the race of president obama beating john mccain by something over 600,000 votes, if you have almost double that and you have got people that, you know, 1.2 million people who may not be able to vote, could this be a real game changer? >> absolutely. i mean, john kerry only won pennsylvania by 100,000 voters and it could make a difference for the republicans and one of the republicans even went out and said a few weeks ago that the voter i.d. law would help bring the state to mitt romney. so you could see easily that if 2% or 3% of people could not vote it could swing the vote

>> i think people say "what's the big deal about showing an i.d.? i have to show i.d. to buy cough medicine over the counter." >> reporter: joe certain is the president of the pennsylvania voter i.d. coalition, part of a non-partisan government watchdog group called the committee of 70. the coalition is leading an evidence to educate voters on the new law and certaine says it's no easy task. >> there are all kinds of problems associated with the implementation of this law that was not considered by the legislature when they drafted the law and when it was signed by the governor. we are trying to do what we can across the commonwealth, starting here in pennsylvania, in philadelphia, to make sure that those people get the assistance that they need in order to be able to comply with the law. regardless of our feelings about the law. >> reporter: voter rights advocates say they're not opposed to a law reporting live from identification to vote. it's the complexity of the pennsylvania law they object to. to some voters, they say, acquireing the right identification is not a

maybe their i.d.or expiring, they went won't realize until they get to the polls they are not eligible to vote. at that point, there's very little time to actually do something about it. they can cast a provisional ballot, it won't be counted unless they show up with valid i.d. within six days. two of those days happen to fall on a weekend. a lot of people won't realize there's a problem until election day. >> charles, we just saw the governor of pennsylvania unable to say what a valid i.d. would be. what would be acceptable. but that to me is not an accident. this seems to me to be an intentional move toward suppression and designed to suppress the vote that they want to suppress there. >> i think not just there, lawrence. i think you have to broad this out and look at it as a national picture. you have at least 19 laws, 14, 15 states these cover most of the electoral votes that will be counted in this presidential election. when we look at the people who are least likely to have these sorts of valid

they include an i.d.ility, military i.d., valid u.s. passport or other photo identification issued by the federal of pennsylvania government or employee i.d. by the county or state government. for most voters, the driver's license is the standard i.d. it is also possible that the results were skewed by individuals who registered to vote with names slightly different than appear on their licenses. but where it was revealed that 9.2% of the state's 8.2 million voters don't have the photo i.d. cards from the state transportation department, it's cause for alarm. and it certainly casts down on prior assertions by the secretary of common worth who said 90% of voters already have the i.d. they require. in bucks county where i was born and raised, 6% lack a driver's license or the state issued non-driver's license. republican david heckler is the district attorney and has been since 2010. that year there was a single case of voter fraud prosecuted. in montgomery county where i live now, the number is 8.5%. repub

voter i.d. and who makes the money for the campaign they're raising? tonight on "washington week." this was supposed to be foreign policy week. . >> in dealings with other nations he has given trust where it was not earned, insult where it was not deserved, and apology where it is not due. >> as many of you know, i have made it a top priority for my administration to deepen cooperation with israel across the whole spectrum of security issues. gwen: but mitt romney's big trip abroad got off to an inauspicious start in preolympics london. >> mitt romney wants to know whether or not we're ready. are we ready? [cheers and applause] >> yes, we are. gwen: do romney's missteps matter? on the message front, the candidates sparred over the president's commitment to business. >> president obama attacks success and we will change that. >> they're taking my words out of context and are flat-out wrong. gwen: a big fight brews over who gets the vote. >> if i don't get the proper birthday certificate and i.d.,

voter i.d. now, most of us i think we show i.d. for everything all the time now. but a surprising number of people don't have it. mostly the poor, the elderly have trouble with this sometimes. and so when pennsylvania did its law, for instance, the first estimate was about 90,000 people in pennsylvania voters would lack this kind of voter photo identification. but instead when they ran the voter rolls plus the department of transportation rolls, they found about 758,000 people did not. it's a surprising number. >> and does it break along partisan lines, if you're talking poor and old, you might be talking democrat and republican. >> you might a little. but certainly the parties think that these more restrictive laws help the republicans. republican legislatures have passed them wherever they've happened for the most part. democrats have been opposed to them because the groups that are hurt are usually those in urban areas or minorities sometimes. >> bob, one of the rationales for these laws, acc

the trial to stop pennsylvania's photo i.d. law is expected to last another week but even after the judge decides, appeals could last beyond the elections. >> and several other states facing lawsuit as well. elaine, thank you very much. 11 people who were wounded in the aurora, colorado, theater shooting remain hospitalized tonight, five of them in critical condition. and there were more funerals today for some of the 12 who died, including alex teves from phoenix arizona, and air force staff srlg jesse childress, who was 29 yearsole one of three service men killed. in springfield, ohio, hundreds attended the funeral of 27-year-old matt mcquinn who threw himself over his girlfriend in that theater to protect her, and 24-year-old jessica ghawi, who dreamed of being a sports broadcaster was remembered in her hometown of san antonio. coming up, the summer olympics begin in london. we'll take you there. and look back at the beijing olympics four years ago. and in the face of more severe storms, a call for tougher building codes. th

we're saying these new i.d. requirements. have the same i.d. we always had.n we voted for bush oreagan or clinton. we want the same i.d. why do we need new i.d. if there's been no fraud, jim? >> that's the million dollar question. that's why there's a lawsuit filed. the court will hear it on july 25th. as practicing attorney general in pennsylvania, i've looked at the merits. i think there are merits to this. having said that, i like the arguments that are being made. but having said that, we need to move forward as if this bill will be on the ground in november. >> thank you so much, jim burn. thank you for being here. and i am on a national tour to get out the word no matter who you vote for that we've got to have the right i.d. i'll be in atlanta, georgia, tomorrow. go the the website and get all the information. we'll be right back. mid grade dark roast forest fresh full tank brain freeze cake donettes rolling hot dogs bag of ice anti-freeze wash and dry diesel self-serve fix a flat jumper cables 5% cashback signup for 5% cashback at gas stations through

that we need voter i.d. laws to stop fraud even though voter i.d. laws wouldn't stop fraud?his is the same guy who insisted that hundreds of dead people were voting in south carolina. of course, the state election commission later said all those folks were in fact alive. today there's a growing -- also a growing concern about florida. the state that made hanging chads household phrase. republicans have had their slew of bills designed to limit voter turnout and participation. a movement even the state's former gop governor charlie crist criticizes. >> in florida, we have a history of having some pretty close elections. i think everybody remembers 2000 and how close that was. and so every single vote really matters. and the notion and the idea of making it more difficult to exercise this precious right that so many people have fought and died for for our fellow americans and my fellow floridians is unconscionable to me. >> and now the chair of florida's republican party is saying that officials held meetings to talk about depressing the black vote. more on that in a minute. b

i.d. laws to keep voters from voting. i think in pennsylvania the plan may work. over a million voters may be without the proper i.d. to vote this november. >>> plus, ad wars. both sides of the presidential race are going negative trying to paint the other guy as the other. it is a strategy with risks. it can make you look bad yourself. and mitt romney dodges questions about his wife's dancing horse. the latest from the london olympics. boy, it's getting bizarre over there. >>> and what is all the soviet talk from the republicans? thank god it's gone for 20 years. this is "hardball," the place for politics. ♪ [ male announcer ] introducing new dentyne split to fit pack. it splits in to two smaller, sleeker packs that fit almost anywhere so you can take them everywhere. dentyne split to fit. practice safe breath. he's, he's on my back about providing for his little girl. hey don't worry. e-trade's got a killer investing dashboard. everything is on one page. i'm watching you. oh yeah? well i

you either have a military i.d. you have a federal i.d. like a passport, a state issued i.d. like a driver's license, either a health care facility that's run by the state, a university form of identification or some form of a municipal identification. those are the six things you need. if you don't have them, you need to come with some type of a birth certificate or some type of form of credential. >> my health card doesn't have my picture on it. would that qualify? >> no, no. you're going to have a problem. you may think that's enough and you'll do nothing between now and november if you live in pennsylvania. we'll get to you, chris, and we'll make sure that even though if we're knocking on your door and you say i'm fine. move to the next house. we'll ask you specifically why you think you have what you need. if you don't, we'll make sure that you do. >> just to be a good public interest show, the minute somebody looks in their wallet or their purse and looks around the house. i hope you're all doing that in pennsylvania especially and you can't find this means of oiftion,

. -- or had he will refuse to get this i.d. at the voting polling place even if it's upheld in the court sessions. also with me is rod smith, chairman of the florida democratic party. thank you both for joining me tonight. >> good to see you. >> chris, why are you taking such a firm stand against this law? >> reverend, sharpton, this goes to my core beliefs in values that if a government can ask citizens to violate a law which is a civil rights act in order to enforce a law, then that law is no good. >> so you see this as a law that is really a law you have to stand up against because it violates voter rights and civil rights? >> absolutely. >> now, what is interesting to me is that when you look at the fact that the governor of your state in march claimed that voter i.d. laws would not interfere with people's right to vote -- let me play to you what he says. >> contrary to some claims, this bill does not interfere with anyone's legal right to vote. it prevents people from cheating in our election. some have argued there is no

there's no way that you can get an i.d.>> it seems awfully coincidental that as the country faces the re-election of the nation's first african-american president, you've got in excess of two dozen states going in a direction they've never gone before. >> in fact, these laws go back more than a decade at this point. my home state of indiana put one into effect i believe sometime the middle of the last decade. i don't believe in conspiracy theorys. >> i don't normally. you know, i think we went to the moon and i don't think much happened in area 51 and i think you know, kennedy was killed by lee harvey oswald acti ining al. >> the first time i heard it wasn't required i wondered how in the world was it in the required. every voter in the mexican election had to show a photographic i.d. the pennsylvania law, there are some cases where people who have religious objections to being photographed, they don'tava photo >>rics say the ls are a solution in search of a problem and that the real agenda is tamping down democratic turnou

with closing arguments in the texas voter i.d. law. the justice department blocked the i.d. requirement arguing that it unfailurely discriminates against minorities. people said to be less likely to have identification. opponents say the law unfairly hurts the poor and the elderly but republican supporters of the requirement say it is needed to fight voter fraud. and now to our legal panel, arthur aidala, and defense attorney, arty, i look at the arguments and what texas is saying, or what the justice department is saying this disenfranchises 1.4 million elderly, minority, and student voters but not really a lot of compelling evidence laid out in court. >>arthur: to cross the street now you need a picture i.d. i don't think it is so cumbersome to have to ask someone to present a valid identification document with a photograph on it so that you know who the person is. the perfect example is my grandfather's name was arthur aidala and he has been deceased for 12 years but for various family reasons we still get mail under his name and the estate of. and he lived in the bronx a

nationally, new voter i.d.contribute to the disenfranchisement of least 5 million people according to the brennan center of justice. joining us now is the president of the brennan center of justice, michael waldman. not one case of voter fraud. how do you admit that and then pass this law. >> there is no basis for passing a law like this. they have admitted it in court and now pennsylvania is like the rest of the country because there is no evidence that shows fraud like this either. this is a classic case of politicians manipulating the system to benefit themselves, to benefit their own re-election. we look back at b boss tweed who said i don't care how people vote as long as i count the votes. we look back and say how could peeppeople put up with that? this is the same spectrum of voter fraud. >> eliot: the system is not broken. they're creating a false issue to pass a restrictive law that will keep hundreds of thousands perhaps millions of people away from the ballot box. this is an outrage to anyone who bel

and you can get a photo i.d.ree from your state, if you get it at the time you register to vote, people can get photo i.d.s. is there anyone here 18 or older that does not have a photo i.d.? that's what i thought. all right. this is not like we're all without photo i.d.s. >> literally canvassing the room. anybody that doesn't have a photo i.d.? no. no problem. >> the audience poll of republicans. the quote to me that sums it up, i think it was a week or two ago, the state house leader in pennsylvania, they passed voter i.d. in pennsylvania and he said at a state republican conference, this will enable governor romney to carry the state of pennsylvania. he bragged about it. he put it out there. >> isn't that a significant part of the libertarian right who doesn't like having to carry photo i.d.s around and having the government get in your life in that way? isn't there -- >> there has been some push-back in more libertarian western states haven't adopted these i.d.s like they have been adopted in the south and par

there's no way you can get an i.d.se to a million people in this short of amount of time. >> let me get this in if i might. it seems awfully coincidental and i'm not a fan of coincidences. that as the country faces the re-election of the nation's first african-american president, you've got in excess of two dozen states going in a direction they've never gone before. >> in fact, these laws go back more than a decade at this point. they've been passed in various places. my home state of indiana put one into effect i believe sometime the middle of the last decade. i don't believe in conspiracy theories. >> i don't normally. you know, i think we went to the moon and i don't think much happened in area 51 and i think that, you know, kennedy was killed by lee harvey oswald acting alone. but this is pretty darn compelling. >> it makes sense. the first time i heard it wasn't required i wondered how in the world was it not required. every voter in the mexican election had to show a photographic i.d. everyone in europe who vote

. 21 million people don't have i.d. in crucial swing states like pennsylvania. 750,000 registered voters don't have that i.d. number two, people need to understand what it takes to get the i.d. it's not as simple as showing up. it costs pone. in texas, only 81 out of 254 counties in texas even have a dmv. even if you wanted to get the i.d., it's just very difficult to get it in certain places. we're creating all these new hurdles to voting for no reason other than that republicans want to make it harder for traditionally democratic constituents to be able to cast a ballot. this all happened after the election of barack obama. it the wasn't a coincidence. republicans saw how obama won in 2008 by turning out a coalition dst young voters. >> caller: hispanic and african-american voters and decided we're going to make it tougher for those voters to vote in 2012. it's not about the voter fraud. it's about the gop shaping electorate in their own favor. >> there is no coincidence this is happening now after the election of bar

it's photo i.d.of a recent reason why it should be covered under the voting rights act, as you cited, 25% of african-americans nationwide, 16% of latinos nationwide don't have access to the type of photo i.d. texas is requiring. in texas itself, 600,000 people, 600,000 texans are without the type of photo i. nchts required and that includes 170,000 latinos in that state. >> we have to go. what's it look like? will this be favored for texas or it will be the justice department? >> you know, the united states has mounted a vigorous defense of section 5 and a vigorous campaign against texas' photo i.d. law, so numerous organizations like mine and we think we stand a very good chance of preprevailing showing texas' i.d. law is harmful to minority voters in texas. >> thank you so much for your time this morning. >> thank you. >>> hard to believe, but it's been a year since casey anthony captured the headlines after being acquitted of murdering her daughter caylee. since that verdict anthony has been in hi

a lot of voters who think they have the i.d. may not. it's not just the i.d.mes on the voter i.d. card may be different than on their driver's license. >> there is a logistical problem certainly that you're seeing at the moment. give as you sense here, you're on the ground there. the philadelphia city paper is saying up to 20% of pennsylvania voters could be disenfranchised as a result of these voter i.d. laws. that's on the higher end of what we've heard in the past and the number swells to 43% in philadelphia. what's your sense of how large of a problem this is? >> look, this is a solution looking for a problem. it goes against the very essence of our democracy. it's immoral, it's unethical and it's wrong. in montgomery county, which is very affluent, we believe it will probably affect somewhere around 9% of the population in terms of of the registered voters or about 48,000. and some of those people will be able to figure it out and some won't and it's just an absolute mess. the governor when asked questions about what kind of i.d. should be -- was okay, co

we already have i.d. i.d. we used for reagan, nixon, clinton, what's wrong with that i.d. now?n. i don't know that anyones that answer. you would hate to think that any of our elected officials would want to keep people from voting. but it appears that there is an effort, front, to keep people from voting. and so i think we just had to be vigilant as we always have. there's nothing more powerful in all the world than an idea whose time has come, victor hugo used to say the time has come for us to mobilize, organize, and registration with education will create ultimately voter participation. >> one of the reasons that we are moving in july is because if people have to get i.d. and may take weeks to get the i.d. back and then they have to register before 30 days. you can't do this in october. what do you say as the son of dr. king and mrs. coretta scott king to people that are frustrated, that it is so complex, i'm tired of -- going through all of these different complications to vote. >> while i say this is a -- quirk, you know, i have to think about what my dad and his team wen