Thursday, May 12, 2011

WI Assembly Approves Voter ID Bill

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

The Assembly late Wednesday approved requiring people to show photo ID at the polls, putting the measure on a fast track to becoming law. The Senate is expected to sign off on the plan Tuesday.

The move comes when drivers are about to have to present more documentation to get their licenses and wait longer to get them.

The Assembly passed the bill 60-35 amid shouts from a small group of protesters in the viewing gallery.

"Welcome to Wisconsin, Jim Crow!" one of them shouted. The Republican-run Assembly quickly adjourned as the protesters chanted "Shame!" and were led out of the gallery by police officers.

Democrats Peggy Krusick of Milwaukee and Tony Staskunas of West Allis joined all Republicans in approving the bill.

In a change that's separate from the photo ID legislation, drivers will soon have to present more documents proving their identity to get licenses under a federal anti-terrorism law. And instead of receiving their licenses when they visit a Division of Motor Vehicles office, they will get them a week to 10 days later in the mail.

Gov. Scott Walker is a longtime supporter of requiring photo ID to vote. His fellow Republicans have pushed the idea for a decade but have been blocked by Democrats.

...On the Assembly floor Wednesday, Republicans argued that requiring ID at the polls would prevent voter fraud and boost confidence in elections.

"That is a travesty to have your vote stolen from you," said Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald (R-Horicon).

Democrats said the measure would have no effect on voter fraud while making it harder for poor, elderly, minority and rural residents to vote. They said that no widespread voter fraud has ever been uncovered in Wisconsin.

Finally!

The Democrats are powerless to block the effort to make voter fraud more difficult at polling places in Wisconsin.

They will be forced to use other routes, like frivolous recounts and inventing anomalies, to disenfranchise Wisconsinites.

The Democrats will have to revise their playbook.

Isn't it funny Dems "said that no widespread voter fraud has ever been uncovered in Wisconsin"?

That's exactly what they intend to claim has taken place in Waukesha County in the Supreme Court race.

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