The Legislature's committee on Campaigns and Elections met Thursday to discuss Assembly Bill 259, a bill that could affect student voting rights if passed.
The bill would require voters to present a Wisconsin Department of Transportation photo identification or license when voting. Under current Wisconsin voting regulations, other voters can vouch for those lacking proper identification.
'The elimination of vouching will dramatically reduce student turnout at the polls,' said Craig Trost, legislative affairs director of the United Council of UW Students. Trost said that, due to their lack of need for a driver license, students would not bring their licenses to the polls, would get turned away and would not return.
'The bottom line for students on this issue is simple,' he said. '...Voting is our means to influence every day policies that impact us.'
Rep. Scott Walker, R-Wauwatosa, said he thought the current rules are too relaxed, and pointed out that current requirements at the polls are more relaxed than the requirements at Blockbuster to rent a video.
'In this society we value the integrity of this tape,' he said, holding up a Blockbuster video tape in his hand, 'more than we value the integrity of the people of this country to vote.'
However, Sen. Gwendolynn Moore, D-Milwaukee, said that forcing people to acquire a picture ID would 'have the effect of disenfranchising' and would place 'an undue and unnecessary burden' on voters, comparing AB 259 to poll taxes formerly used in southern states to keep African Americans from voting.
'I'll be the first one heading to the Justice Department if this Legislature were to succeed,' Moore said, calling AB 259 'unconstitutional.'
According to Moore, AB 259 would eliminate same-day voter registration 'by de facto' because acquiring a photo ID would not be a one-day affair for those who do not already have one. Rep. Johnnie Morris-Tatum, D-Milwaukee, said she agrees that AB 259 is a law that would deter people from voting.
'No one wants fraud ... [but] we don't need to look for ways to fence people out,' she said. 'We need to come up with a plan that we can all be comfortable with.'
Jefferson Davis, a resident of Menominee Falls, said he thinks AB 259 is about voter integrity, not disenfranchisement.
'This is about one thing and one thing only: one vote for one voter,' he said.
Rep. Jeff Stone, R-Greenfield, expressed concern that under the current system, people are being denied their constitutional right to vote. His concern, he said, is based on the fear that pollsters let frauds vote in the place of legitimate voters, and when the true voters go to the polls to cast their vote, they are turned away because pollsters think they have already voted.
'There ought to be some provision that guarantees the integrity of the system,' Rep. Steven Freese, R-Dodgeville, said. '[The requirement of a picture ID] guarantees who you are.'
Moore pointed out, however, that requiring a picture ID does not eliminate all voting evils. A driver's license does not, for example, show that someone is an unnaturalized immigrant or a convicted felon, she said.
