The Wisconsin Department of Transportation is facing criticism from both sides of the aisle after a Republican representative and the Wisconsin Democratic Party took aim at the department Thursday over a recently released memo.
The memo, written in July by former program operations section chief, now-executive assistant Steven Krieser, instructed employees not to offer free identification cards to customers who do not explicitly ask for it.
The law passed last May states that a voter must present valid identification in order to vote. But it also allows voters to receive IDs for free, rather than the normal $28, if they request them for voting reasons.
In a letter to DOT Secretary Mark Gottlieb, Rep. Evan Wynn, R-Madison, called for the agency to re-examine the policy, which he believes oversteps the boundaries of the department's authority.
""As the main provider of photo identification used by our citizens to exercise their right to vote, your department serves as a gateway to fair and clean elections,"" Wynn said. ""Placing unnecessary barriers undermines our elections and undermines the intent of the law.""
To Wynn, frustration seems to be the only apparent result of the DOT's policy.
""I could understand why people would be mad if they went there and found out that they were supposed to get a free id, and they didn't just because they forgot to say some magic word,"" said Wynn.
Wynn voted in favor Voter ID when it appeared before the state legislature last spring, and is still in support of the measure.
""I think this is a case of where one person tried to interpret the law and put out what the policy was,"" he said.
Krieser said the instructions were meant to keep employees efficient in dealing with customers, an effort to save both time and resources.
""When you handle millions of customers every year…you're talking about slower service for every other person who comes through the door,"" Kreiser said, explaining that the DOT's commitment is to increase its overall operating efficiency rather than that of voter registration.
Julio Guerrero, the Latino Caucus Chair of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin called the combination of the law and Krieser's directions an anti-democratic ""double-down"" against the people of Wisconsin in a statement Thursday.
""The problem is that the news apparently isn't intended for any American citizen who doesn't speak English,"" Guerrero said, referring to the lack of Voter ID information available to voters in Spanish and other languages. ""Jim Crow has come to Wisconsin in the 21st Century.""
