Capitol Report
By State Representative, Leon D. Young
Leon D. Young
The other shoe has begun to drop on the draconian voter ID laws around the country. Just last week, a federal judge in Milwaukee held that “a safety net is needed for those voters who cannot obtain a qualifying voter ID with reasonable effort.” As a result, voters who don’t have IDs will be able to vote by going to polling places and signing forms (called affidavits) saying they can’t easily get IDs.
However, this affidavit system will not be in place for the primary election next week on August 9.
Then later, that same week, another federal judge, but this one in Madison, rendered a different decision on some other changes that have been made to Wisconsin’s election laws this past legislative session. More specifically, U.S. District Court Judge James Petersen’s ruling struck down the following voter ID provisions:
• Limits on early voting that Republicans have put in place in recent years, GOP lawmakers restricted early voting to weekdays during the two full weeks before elections, thus eliminating weekend that was popular in Milwaukee and other urban areas.
• A requirement that cities can have only one place for early voting.
Critics have said large cities such as Milwaukee should be able to have multiple voting sites because not everyone can get downtown easily.
• A requirement that people must live in their ward 28 days before an election. Previously, people had to live in a ward 10 days before an election.
• The system the state uses to determine if people with the most difficulty getting IDs should be provided identification for voting.
He ruled anyone in that system must immediately be granted an ID for voting within 30 days.
• Part of the voter ID law allows people to use certain student IDs to vote, but those IDs cannot be expired. Peterson found that aspect of the law is unconstitutional, ruling that expired student IDs can be used at the polls – just as expired driver’s licenses can be used for voting.
• A requirement that dorm lists provided to poll workers include citizen information.
Universities provide the lists of those living in dorms to poll workers so they have an easy way to check whether students are voting in the right wards; lawmakers put in a requirement that those lists show whether the students are U.S. citizens.
• A prohibition on providing voters with absentee ballots by email of fax is unconstitutional the judge ruled. Gladly, these nefarious voter ID laws are finally being seen for exactly what they represent: A systematic attempt to disenfranchise (and discourage) eligible minority voters from casting their ballots.
To further illustrate this point, a federal appeals court on Friday also blocked a North Carolina law that required voters to produce photo identification and follow other rules disproportionately affecting minorities, finding that the law was intended to make it harder for Blacks to vote in that presidential battleground state. Judge Peterson was absolutely right when he wrote:
“The Wisconsin experience demonstrates that a preoccupation with mostly phantom election fraud leads to real incidents of disenfranchisement, which undermine rather than enhance confidence in elections, particularly in minority communities.” In Wisconsin, as in other battleground states, the real intent of these scurrilous voter ID laws is winning elections — by silencing the legitimate voices of their opposition at the polls.
This legislative fabrication of rampant voter fraud undermines one of the core tenets of American democracy (the right to vote) and is truly un-American in its purpose. A final note: The primary election is next Tuesday, August 9. I urge everyone to go out and vote for the candidate of their choice.
Your vote and every vote matters.
