Pennsylvania GOP chairman: Voter ID law helped 'cut Obama' during 2012 election

The head of the Republican Party of Pennsylvania said last week that the state's controversial voter ID law helped suppress Obama voters.

Chairman Rob Gleason told PCN in an interview that the voter ID law had an impact on the 2012 elections.

"We probably had a better election," he explained. "Think about this, we cut Obama by 5 percent, which was big. A lot of people lost sight of that. He won, he beat McCain by ten percent, he only beat Romney by five percent. I think that probably voter ID had helped a bit in that."

His comments where highlighted by Pennsylvania Democrats on Wednesday.

Republicans have alleged that voters should be required to present photo identification before casting a ballot to prevent voter fraud. Democrats say incidents of voter fraud are rare, and the law is designed to suppress voters. The groups least likely to have valid photo identification -- such as students, minorities, and disabled people -- also tend to be Democratic voters.

The law was not enforced during the 2012 elections due to an ongoing legal battle. Officials, however, were still allowed to asked for identification, a situation that resulted in confusion.

Last year, House Majority Leader Mike Turzai (R) said the law would "allow Governor Romney to win the state of Pennsylvania."

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