A Sensible Solution... Disliked by Democrats

Thank you, Wisconsin Republicans...

Wisconsin lawmakers passed a bill Wednesday that would require voters to provide a driver's license or other government-issued photo identification before casting a ballot. Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle said he would veto the measure.

If the bill becomes law, Wisconsin would join South Carolina with the toughest requirements for voter identification in the country, said Jennie Drage Bowser, who tracks state election laws at the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Indiana lawmakers Tuesday passed a similar voter identification bill, and Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels has said he will probably sign the measure.

While 19 states require voters to show some form of identification, only South Carolina requires the ID be a state driver's license or a military ID with a photo. The other states allow voters to show other forms of IDs, such as student IDs or Social Security cards, or permit voters to sign affidavits.

Wisconsin Republicans who pushed the measure through both houses of the Legislature say the photo ID requirement would lessen voter fraud and protect legitimate voters.

Democrats said the bill threatened the constitutional right to vote for thousands of poor and elderly who lack photo IDs and broke with the tradition of Wisconsin, long known for its high turnout and Election-Day voter registration.

... Some 120,000 of Wisconsin's 5 million residents do not have photo IDs, state officials estimate. Two-thirds of them are elderly people who no longer drive.

Someone please explain to the Wisconsin Governor that if he's so concerned about the supposed 120,000 Wisconsinites who don't have photo ID, then he should have his party help them obtain ID cards. You can't rent a movie or enter a gym without an ID, but you can vote, which somehow makes sense to this governor. Let me put it this way -- if you can't figure out a way to get a picture ID card in our society today, then you probably can't intelligently cast a vote... which means you'll probably vote Democrat (outside Palm Beach County).

Jokes aside, I'm all for easy access to the polls. But what these advocates fail to realize is that making some access too easy allows for fraud, saps trust from the democratic process and effectively devalues all legitimate votes. Asking a voter to obtain a photo ID is akin to asking them to make an effort to show up at the polls. Some level of effort is necessary from "we the people" in order to actually exercise the rights we cherish.