If President Barack Obama wants to win Pennsylvania in his bid for a second term in the White House next year, he might be asked to produce his birth certificate.
Two dozen legislators, including one from Lancaster County, want to force presidential hopefuls, including Obama, to cough up proof that they're natural born citizens to get on the state's ballot.
The bill's author, Republican state Rep. Daryl Metcalfe of Butler County, said he drafted the measure in response to persistent questions about Obama's citizenship — even though the president released a copy of his birth certificate, showing he was born in Hawaii, during his first campaign.
"I was shocked that somebody's running for president and there's this question," Metcalfe said. "Why doesn't our process thoroughly ensure we don't have that question?"
Rep. Tom Creighton, a Republican from Rapho Township, is one of 23 cosponsors of the bill, which was introduced in the House on Wednesday. A previous attempt to pass the legislation failed during the last two-year session.
Supporters of the legislation say it's not an attempt to prevent Obama from getting on the 2012 president ballot, but other lawmakers aren't so sure.
"This bill appears to be a shot directed at President Obama and the immigrant community," said Rep. Gordon Denlinger, a Republican from Narvon.
"While adherence to election law is important, I'm not aware that concerns over the eligibility of any elected official exist in state government," said Denlinger. "With the huge budget and jobs creation challenges we face in Harrisburg, I believe our focus should be directed elsewhere."
The U.S. Constitution requires those serving as president to be born in the country, but Metcalfe and supporters of the bill say there's nothing in the state election law that requires they prove it by showing their birth certificates in Harrisburg.
"He has not made public the documentation for Pennsylvania's election officials to actually verify that he is eligible to hold office. He never provided that in his official filing because we don't require it. That's what's more shocking," Metcalfe said.
Metcalfe's legislation would require candidates for president and vice president to turn over "documentation that provides proof that the candidate is a natural born citizen," among other information, to the Department of State. It does not specify what constitutes documentation, but he cited a legitimate birth certificate as the most common form.
Asked whether documentation already made public by the Obama campaign, a "certification of live birth," would suffice under his legislation, Metcalfe said: "I'm not familiar with that certificate and what that certificate's issuance actually claims."
Metcalfe said Obama has not provided enough documentation to satisfy "most people" to put an end to the controversy. In a statement announcing his legislation, though, Metcalfe goes a step further and says he, too, doesn't believe the president has proved his was born in the country.
"It is beyond perplexing and greatly troubling that a political candidate can ascend to the highest levels of government without providing sufficient documentation verifying his or her place of birth or American citizenship," Metcalfe said.
Obama released his birth certificate, a document issued and confirmed by Hawaii's Department of Health, during the 2008 presidential campaign. The record, now widely available on the Internet, states the president was born at 7:24 p.m. on Aug. 4, 1961, in Honolulu. Newspapers at the time also carried notices announcing his birth there.
The document, though titled a "certification of live birth," is a short form of Hawaii's birth certificate, and contains all the information required by the State Department for proving citizenship.
Still, critics have raised questions about why Obama won't release a longer version of the record, which contains more information about his birth statistics. They believe it is because Obama was born Kenya and is trying to cover it up.
The ongoing controversy is fueled by conspiracy theorists and Obama's critics on the extreme right, though it has crept into pop culture, most recently with Donald Trump's claim that he has hired investigators to search for the president's birth certificate.
Creighton said he signed onto the legislation because it adds teeth to the state elections code.
"A lot of things are overlooked and are not really checked, leaving it up to the competition to do the checking," he said. "This way you have to file and now it becomes a legal document, which would be perjury if you're falsifying information."
He believes the records Obama has already released are sufficient to prove he's a U.S. citizen under the terms of the Metcalfe bill.
"I would say, 'Yes,' " Creighton said.
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