I'm calling it the "Stop The Voting" Act.
And shame on any state legislator supporting it.
Not content with bringing forward a bill to require voter ID to tamp down the core urban/Democratic turnout, Republicans in the Wisconsin legislature are proposing that college students be barred from using their school-issued ID's to comply with the new voter ID provision and by moving the traditional September primary to August, during summer vacation - - along with other hurdles designed to reduce Democratic tallies and the total turnout.
Ironic, isn't it, that people around the world are fighting for the vote, and in Wisconsin, the Republican Party wants to use the law to reduce turnout. There's your Big Government at its worst.
And more ironic, or just plain infuriating that the lead sponsor in the Assembly, State Rep. Don Pridemore, (R-Hartford), represents a good chunk of Waukesha County, where incompetence or something in the Supreme Court vote count by the Waukesha County Clerk kicked off the recount process and made electioneering in Wisconsin prime material for late-night talk show comedians and pundit panels.
So a legislator representing Waukesha County wants to lead the meddling in state election procedures?
You can't be serious.
Get your own house in order first, beginning with a County Clerk that won't keep election data on personal computers off-line from the rest of the system, and blocked by passwords known only to her.
I predict this blatantly partisan and and undemocratic scheme spends the next five years in court.
I agree that the major immediate effect of the Voter ID bill will be to keep judges and lawyers busy for a while.
ReplyDeleteThe Indiana bill did survive a court challenge; but Indiana allows student IDs and makes an exception for indigent people. The Wisconsin bill does neither.
Pridemore actually accused opponents of "sensationalism" on Cardin this morning, soon after outlining the biggest phantom conspiracy in state history.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. The democrats will try to use the courts to stop another legally passed law by the legislative body in our state and it very well may take 5 years.
ReplyDeleteTo RD: That's why we have courts.
ReplyDeleteThe proposal clearly violates the Voting Rights Act of 1964, even posibly the 15th Amendment.
ReplyDeleteVoting is a right, and any state that tampers with it will have legal consequences.
I sincerely hope it does go to court yet I often wonder if there would be any benefit if a voter ID/ registration campaign were conducted in Milwaukee County and more specifically in the City of Milwaukee. Consider it motivation to get the vote out! Connect it to the republicans in Madison and the country in some manner. Use it to our advantage. Make it a bring it on challenge. I shop at the Walgreens on 35th and Wisconsin and frequently ask people randomly if they voted. Some look at me with a blank stare. Some give me a "uh yeah" response. One cashier said she worked that day and it was just too much to do that on the same day. A few gave me a positive emphatic yes!
ReplyDeleteIf you cannot get to the Capitol to testify at today's hearing, take a few minutes to send in written comments to the Election and Campaign Reform Committee, by email to Rep.Tauchen@legis.wisconsin.gov
ReplyDeleteAll written testimony must include name (first and last), along with mailing address to be included into the offical record.
The hearing ends at 4 pm this afternoon.
James,
ReplyDeleteMy error. I should have put "frivolously stop."
"This is going to go a long way to restoring confidence in elections," Stone said of
ReplyDeleteChoose one or all three!
1. Kathy Nickolaus' resignation.
2. Waukesha's election of a non-partisan County Clerk.
3. A federal investigation into the elections of 2004 -- 2011 in Waukesha County.
"Starting in 2012, most voters could no longer vote a straight-party ticket, although military and overseas voters still could because of a federal law." -- MJS article
ReplyDeleteInteresting that the proposed legislation divides voters into more easily controlled groups: college students, overseas voters, military voters, absentee voters, the elderly, the public transportation dependent, etc. Wonder when we'll be sent to 'voting' camps for our own good? It's all possible in Fitzwalkerstan.
RD: You're getting way ahead of yourself. Don't leak on yourself, buddy. The bill isn't final yet, not passed either, much less opposed by Democrats.
ReplyDeleteEven Fitzgerald of Fitzwalkerstan isn't sure it's legal yet. No matter if he can't make all the parts legal--they'll just pass it any they can, even illegally, thus inviting legal challenges.
You have the attitude that if a republican passes it, it must be good, it must be legal and it must be the majority view. That's the way it is in Fitzwalkerstan and Thinkalikeville, its biggest city.
Some of still believe in the quaint notion that every person has a right to one vote, even if it's not the vote our elected representatives would approve of. You see, the representatives are supposed to be accountable to us, not the other way around.