A new voter ID bill that attempts to address the gaps left by previous legislation received a harsh response in an Assembly Committee on Campaigns and Elections public hearing Wednesday.
The bill, proposed by state Reps. Michael Schraa, R-Oshkosh, and Mark Born, R-Beaver Dam, requires all Wisconsin citizens to present IDs when they go to the polls, with a few exceptions. The exemptions include people who cannot afford identification, those who cannot obtain the documents required for an ID and those who cannot to be photographed for religious reasons.
Schraa and Born opened Wednesday’s public hearing by saying the bill would allow every eligible voter to exercise his or her right to vote, while simultaneously addressing voter fraud.
“Voter’s trust in the electoral system continues to erode,” Schraa said. “To me this is simply unacceptable.”
Born said he lost his first local election by a single vote, lending significance to the idea that every vote counts.
Under the bill, if a person would elect to use the exemption, his or her ballot would face additional scrutiny and would be marked for potential additional review. One criteria for exemption, however, turned into a point of conflict between the authors and Democratic representatives who testified at the hearing.
Those voters who cannot afford an ID would have to inform the polling place’s chief inspector before voting if the bill passes. State Reps. JoCasta Zamarripa, D-Milwaukee, and Frederick Kessler, D-Milwaukee, took issue with this, pointing out that it invaded a person’s privacy, especially in the case of minorities. Additionally, Kessler emphasized there was no specified standard by which it could be determined whether voters were too poor to obtain an identification.
Numerous members of the public said the bill was hindering voters from casting their ballot.
Scot Ross of One Wisconsin Now was particularly vocal, calling the bill, “another deplorable attempt to find a way to make voting more complicated for seniors, minorities and students.”
Lisa Subeck of United Wisconsin, and Andrea Kaminski of the League of Women Voters, made similar arguments against it.
The bill is scheduled for a hearing in the full Assembly Nov. 12 or Nov. 14.
