by Daniel Nardini
It has been challenged in court since the day it was passed back in 2011. Sadly, this voter ID law is still on the books in Wisconsin. This law requires that only a valid photograph Wisconsin state issued identification card is valid in a Wisconsin voting booth. There are a number of problems with this. First, according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), this excludes federally issued ID cards including U.S. military veteran cards. Second, it excludes state issued ID cards from other states even if the address on the cards has a Wisconsin address. Finally, many people who do not own a car and have to use public transportation are complaining that they cannot get a Wisconsin state-issued card simply because there are now fewer Driver’s facilities in the state than before. This has especially affected the very poor, racial and ethnic minorities such as Latinos and African Americans.
Many such voter laws passed by largely Republican-controlled state legislatures have been struck down in federal courts. They have been found to limit the rights of voters, and they were found to have been thoroughly discriminatory. Defenders of these voter laws have said that it is to prevent “voter fraud.” All federal courts have replied that there are no significant cases of voter fraud, and that the issue of voter fraud is not a credible one. The largely Republican-controlled legislature has been arguing the same thing in Wisconsin for years, but so far this has not been proven. Of course, this should come as no surprise that the extremist Republicans are arguing this point as they have argued that “unions are bad,” “Wisconsin has an illegal immigration problem,” and “we have to keep Muslims out of the state to prevent sharia law.”
I can safely say that Wisconsin’s Republicans are good at fantasy issues, but could care less about real ones. Then again, with an extreme Republican governor like Scott Walker, the same one who said that America should build a border wall with Canada, I guess I cannot be surprised that these Republicans are in political la-la land. I am grateful that we will NOT have Scott Walker as President of the United States. It is bad enough we have him as governor of Wisconsin. I hope that Wisconsin’s voter law will be struck down, and that eventually extremist people like those in power will have their days numbered when Wisconsin state residents vote them out.
Wisconsin’s Disgraceful Voter ID Law
by Daniel Nardini
It has been challenged in court since the day it was passed back in 2011. Sadly, this voter ID law is still on the books in Wisconsin. This law requires that only a valid photograph Wisconsin state issued identification card is valid in a Wisconsin voting booth. There are a number of problems with this. First, according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), this excludes federally issued ID cards including U.S. military veteran cards. Second, it excludes state issued ID cards from other states even if the address on the cards has a Wisconsin address. Finally, many people who do not own a car and have to use public transportation are complaining that they cannot get a Wisconsin state-issued card simply because there are now fewer Driver’s facilities in the state than before. This has especially affected the very poor, racial and ethnic minorities such as Latinos and African Americans.
Many such voter laws passed by largely Republican-controlled state legislatures have been struck down in federal courts. They have been found to limit the rights of voters, and they were found to have been thoroughly discriminatory. Defenders of these voter laws have said that it is to prevent “voter fraud.” All federal courts have replied that there are no significant cases of voter fraud, and that the issue of voter fraud is not a credible one. The largely Republican-controlled legislature has been arguing the same thing in Wisconsin for years, but so far this has not been proven. Of course, this should come as no surprise that the extremist Republicans are arguing this point as they have argued that “unions are bad,” “Wisconsin has an illegal immigration problem,” and “we have to keep Muslims out of the state to prevent sharia law.”
I can safely say that Wisconsin’s Republicans are good at fantasy issues, but could care less about real ones. Then again, with an extreme Republican governor like Scott Walker, the same one who said that America should build a border wall with Canada, I guess I cannot be surprised that these Republicans are in political la-la land. I am grateful that we will NOT have Scott Walker as President of the United States. It is bad enough we have him as governor of Wisconsin. I hope that Wisconsin’s voter law will be struck down, and that eventually extremist people like those in power will have their days numbered when Wisconsin state residents vote them out.