The arguments that voter ID requirements disenfranchises Senior citizens seems rather weak to me.
Voter ID veto stirs criticism, praise from state Legislature
(Published Monday, August 22, 2005 11:32:05 AM CDT)
gazetteextra.com
By Jay Webster
Capitol News Service
MADISON-Gov. James Doyle's third veto of a bill requiring state-issued photo identification for voters received mixed reactions in the Legislature.
Republicans called the veto a setback in election reform. Democrats praised the veto, saying the bill disenfranchises elderly voters.
The bill required voters to present current photo identification or other Wisconsin identification from the Department of Transportation. Military personnel could present their military IDs.
Voters could receive IDs free of charge from the Department of Transportation.
Doyle cited the same reasons for his veto. The bill would do nothing to solve problems of management and process in state elections, and it would disenfranchise 177,000 seniors who do not have state-issued identification or driver's licenses, he said.
Rep. Mike Sheridan, D-Janesville, said he supports Doyle's decision.
"Gov. Doyle's decision once again shows that he is looking out for all of Wisconsin's citizens," Sheridan said.
Senate Democratic Leader Judy Robson, D-Beloit, also praised the veto.
"This bill restricts the rights of legitimate voters but does nothing to curtail voting by persons who are not qualified, such as convicted felons and non-citizens," Robson said.
Rep. Debi Towns, R-Janesville, said Doyle's veto overlooks popular support for voter ID legislation.
"I know from media surveys that well over 80 percent of people in Wisconsin support it (legislation requiring voter ID)," Towns said. "They want some form of voter identification to ensure validity in their elections.
"I know that a majority of the people in the state of Wisconsin want to clean up our elections, and I want to stand with those people."
Towns also said seniors are "outraged" by a lack of voter ID legislation.
"The governor keeps using senior citizens as an excuse not to sign it (voter ID legislation), but the senior citizens I've talked to are outraged that somebody could vote without having to identify themselves," she said.
Sheridan argued, however, that getting proper identification would be difficult enough to disenfranchise seniors.
Voters, retired or otherwise, are leading busy lives and may not have the opportunity to get to the proper facilities and get the proper identification, Sheridan added.
Towns said she and other Republicans could work to solve such problems.
"If the governor would sign this bill and say that we need to get identification to the few seniors that don't have some form of identification, then I think we (Republicans in the Legislature) can work with that," she said.
Assistant Senate Majority Leader Neal Kedzie, R-Elkhorn, said that Republicans would be more than willing to help ensure a speedy registration process.
Republicans point to the claim of senior citizens being disenfranchised as a "red herring" by Doyle.
But Sheridan sees a different red herring in what he called "Republican spin" of the controversy over voter fraud in Milwaukee.
"Every time you hear them talk about it, their numbers are getting bigger, and, to me, that's the red herring that they've created themselves," he said.
Robson called on Republican legislators to permit a public hearing on SB-249, a Robson-sponsored bill that seeks to improve election procedures.
"I want us to focus our energies on ways to ensure that we have more and better trained election workers, uniform registration processes and accurate statewide voter lists," she said.
"If we can pass this bill (SB-249), the need for photo IDs will vanish." |
