>> a judge has issued a decision in pennsylvania 's controversial voter i.d. law. we have been waiting for this. nbc's justice correspondent pete williams joins me live.
>> the judge said the new voter i.d. law in pennsylvania , the strict new i.d. law cannot go in effect for the general election . there is a chance the state could appeal this to the state's supreme court , but based on what the supreme court said last time they looked at this, it's doubtful they would succeed there. what the judge says here is yes, it's true. the state has said we can fix some of the problems that have come up before, but he says, i question whether there is enough time now to fix these problems. i think there are going to be more problems down the road putting this into effect like we've already seen, he says. he believes that the gap between the photo i.d. 's issued and the estimated need cannot be closed before the election. in other words, he says all the people who would have to get new photo i.d.s, he doubts there is enough time for them to get them. he says i'm not convinced in my predictive judgment there won't be any voter disenfranchisement arising out of this new law. pennsylvania in march passed this new law requiring voter i.d.s. people started going to get them and the state said, wait a minute. we can't just give you a voter i.d. because only thing we can give you is the nondriver's license state department of transportation i.d. that is a secure form of i.d. you need a birth certificate with a raised seal, two other forms of identification, proof of your current residence. the state said maybe we don't need to do all that. we'll revise the procedures. the judge says there isn't enough time left to fix all these current and potential problems and make sure everybody who needs to vote will be able to vote before the election. he put a hold on this new voter i.d. it will not be going into effect for the general election on november 6th .
>> the judge said the new voter i.d. law in pennsylvania , the strict new i.d. law cannot go in effect for the general election . there is a chance the state could appeal this to the state's supreme court , but based on what the supreme court said last time they looked at this, it's doubtful they would succeed there. what the judge says here is yes, it's true. the state has said we can fix some of the problems that have come up before, but he says, i question whether there is enough time now to fix these problems. i think there are going to be more problems down the road putting this into effect like we've already seen, he says. he believes that the gap between the photo i.d. 's issued and the estimated need cannot be closed before the election. in other words, he says all the people who would have to get new photo i.d.s, he doubts there is enough time for them to get them. he says i'm not convinced in my predictive judgment there won't be any voter disenfranchisement arising out of this new law. pennsylvania in march passed this new law requiring voter i.d.s. people started going to get them and the state said, wait a minute. we can't just give you a voter i.d. because only thing we can give you is the nondriver's license state department of transportation i.d. that is a secure form of i.d. you need a birth certificate with a raised seal, two other forms of identification, proof of your current residence. the state said maybe we don't need to do all that. we'll revise the procedures. the judge says there isn't enough time left to fix all these current and potential problems and make sure everybody who needs to vote will be able to vote before the election. he put a hold on this new voter i.d. it will not be going into effect for the general election on november 6th .