Gov. Scott Walker said it on Twitter following Wisconsin’s February 16 primary: “In Wisconsin, it should be easy to vote but hard to cheat.”
I agree. It should be easy to vote in Wisconsin. So let’s work across the aisle and get this done. Politicians who push for strict voter ID laws do so with the stated purpose of stopping fraud. First, we need to accept the fact that in-person voter fraud by impersonation is virtually non-existent, with only 10 cases proven nationally out of 1 billion ballots cast since 2000. Let’s put it this way, more people are struck by lightning than commit in-person voter fraud. But for the upcoming primary and election we need to shift our focus on making certain we make it easier and more accessible to vote in this state under the strict voter ID law currently in place.
It is particularly necessary now to go the extra mile to make it easier to vote for the estimated 300,000 people in Wisconsin who do not have a photo identification that is considered valid. These people are more likely to be people of color, seniors, students and low-income individuals.
Leo Olson, of Reedsburg, fought for our country during World War II including the Battle of Iwo Jima. When he went to vote last month, he showed his photo veterans ID card and was not allowed to cast a ballot. This 90-year-old patriot was denied the right to vote. He responded: “You mean veterans can’t vote?” In another one case, a homeless veteran in Milwaukee spent two years making trips to the DMV and Social Security office because his government-issued veterans license was not accepted at the polls.
That should never happen again.
There are numerous ways to make it “easy to vote” in this election. When a business or group wants to attract people, they look to make an activity convenient. To make it easy to vote, issue valid IDs in accessible locations. Reverse the actions taken in a recent budget to close DMV offices, particularly in rural areas, or find alternative locations to issue cards.
To make it easy to vote, expand the hours at current locations during times convenient to the public. In Wisconsin hours have been slashed, with some locations only open a handful of days in 2016. Let’s restore hours at dozens of other DMVs that were cut around the same time the state passed laws requiring IDs for voting.
To make it easy to vote, without a huge cost to the taxpayers, support using a wide variety of secure, approved photo identifications. In Wisconsin, a passport is valid even though it does not have an address, but a veteran’s benefit card is not accepted, nor is a student ID. Why make it difficult for busy students pursuing job training or the heroes who protect and serve our country to vote?
To make it easy to vote, expand early voting dates. For decades many states increased early voting opportunities, but Wisconsin has now gone in the opposite direction. Not only did our state limit early voting, it banned weekend voting despite the fact that it was increasingly popular.
To make it easy to vote with an ID, get the word out. We have been told the cost is no obstacle when it comes to spending tax money to stop election fraud. So set aside a reasonable budget to advertise and educate people on which forms of ID are accepted at the polls. It is the least we can do to encourage civic participation.
The most recent voting debate in Wisconsin has been a push to ban local governments from issuing IDs. This not only makes it harder to vote, it violates principles of local control. We need to shift the conversation to how we can make it easier for voters in Wisconsin to cast a ballot in this year’s election, not how the state can continue to destroy this pillar of our democracy.
Wisconsin was once a state that took bipartisan pride in our civic participation. Now it keeps on getting harder and harder to vote. If we don’t reverse this disturbing trend, we will continue to marginalize the voice of the people and risk the integrity of our democratic system.
