One year after alleged voter fraud in Milwaukee drew national attention, the state Assembly debated legislation Tuesday introduced by Rep. Scott Walker, R-Wauwatosa, that would counter voter abuse by requiring Wisconsin voters to provide state-issued identification at the poll where they wish to vote.
Rep. Stephen Freese, R-Dodgeville, said he thinks the bill will be useful in countering fraud that he said surfaced after Wisconsin's close election last year.
\It will go through Thursday,"" said Freese, chair of the Assembly Campaigns and Elections Committee. ""It's going to get passed through the Assembly by a fairly large margin.""
""[It will] make it easier for people to vote, harder for people to cheat,"" he added.
Freese said the legislation will require voters to verify their identities at the voting station either with a Wisconsin driver license or a state identification card.
""Virtually every eligible voter 18 and over has a Wisconsin driver's license,"" he said. ""We're making the ID card available for [people without Wisconsin IDs for] free.""
Under the proposed bill, voters could still verify their address with a recent utility bill, but will also need to identify themselves with state-issued ID cards. Voters would no longer be able to have a neighbor or friend vouch for their residence at the polls.
Rep. Terese Berceau, D-Madison, said she thinks the bill will complicate the system and discourage people of certain demographics from voting.
""The Democratic concern is that it will have an effect on students, the elderly and minorities, who would not [typically] have a voter ID,"" she said. ""It takes a lot of work to get them to the polls, and if you tell them they have [to go get an ID] they probably won't come back.""
She added that she thinks voting fraud plays a minimal role in Wisconsin elections.
""We're trying to reform something that, in Wisconsin, isn't broken,"" Berceau said. ""We don't have evidence of widespread abuse.""
Neither Freese nor Berceau knew whether the state's election reform would be eligible for federal assistance through the Ford-Carter Commission, which formed after the 2000 election to aid states in funding election reform measures. The commission is named for the two former presidents who led the panel.
Berceau and state Sen. Fred Risser, D-Madison, both said they thought the Senate unlikely to pass the bill into law.
""I don't think it has much of a chance in the Senate,"" Risser said, adding that the Senate has adjourned for the rest of 2001.
Other election reform measures have already passed the state Legislature, including provisions which would establish a state voter database, Freese said.
""We set up a statewide voter list, a file so you can check to see if someone has voted somewhere else on Election Day,"" Freese said. ""We also passed a piece of legislation that would require judges to instruct convicted felons on what their rights are. ... In most cases, they didn't know they lost their right to vote.
""I suspect we will see more activity in the months to come,"" he said, adding that he would like election policy changes to be in place for the 2002 elections.
