Today, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker signed into law a Republican-sponsored bill that requires voters to show photo ID at the polls. This follows a 10-year effort on the part of the GOP to pass voter ID in the state, which voting rights advocates agree is an unnecessary and burdensome requirement that will disenfranchise voters. According to the Associated Press:
Under the new law, voters will have to present a driver’s license, state ID, passport, military ID, naturalization papers or tribal ID in order to vote. College students could vote with an ID from their school as long as it has their signature and an expiration date that falls within two years of the card’s issuance.
In the same article, Christopher Ahmuty, director of ACLU of Wisconsin, says that the law is an “unnecessary voter suppression measure.” And One Wisconsin Now director Scot Ross says, “We believe Wisconsin’s law is overly burdensome on voters and that the state is simply unequipped to administer this law and ensure legal voters will not be disenfranchised or subject to a poll tax.”
The GOP is moving to pass voter ID in several states this session, despite the potential for disenfranchising voters—particularly low-income voters, seniors, and people of color—and in spite of the extreme rarity of voter impersonation. (The AP reports that none of the 20 voter fraud cases prosecuted by the state Department of Justice and Milwaukee County district attorney’s office stemming from the November 2008 election involved someone voting using another person’s name.)
Read the AP story here.
Learn more about voter ID here.