September 28, 2023
by Nick Ramos, Executive Director
Lately I have been thinking a lot about voting in Wisconsin. It’s hard not to. GOP legislators have announced a constitutional amendment tailored to making voting harder than it needs to be in this state. Recently, Sen. Van Wanggaard (Racine) and Rep. Patrick Snyder (Schofield) proposed to make our current voter photo ID law a constitutionally protected requirement in Wisconsin (SJR73/AJR78).
For the last seven years, Wisconsin’s voter photo ID law has been in effect and enforced. Certain populations are less likely to have the requisite ID and face unconstitutional burdens in obtaining it. For the last seven years, the requirement has made exercising the constitutional right to vote extremely difficult for low-income citizens, senior citizens, students, non-white citizens, disabled citizens, LGBTQIA+ citizens, and more.
You need to provide several documents to obtain an ID in Wisconsin. You need a document that serves as proof of your name and date of birth, a document that serves as proof of your identity, a document that serves as proof of citizenship or legal status in the U.S., a document that serves as proof of your residency in Wisconsin, and a document that serves as proof of your Social Security number.
The documents you need to acquire an ID cost time, money, and transportation—essentially creating a poll tax in violation of the 24th Amendment. Birth certificates are not free and yet they are used to prove someone’s name, date of birth, and U.S. citizenship. And you typically need an ID to acquire your birth certificate.
It is wonderful that we have the Identification Card Petition Process (IDPP) in Wisconsin, a procedure in place for individuals to obtain a free ID for voting. It is great that the Wisconsin DMV will work with individuals who do not have the types of documents you would ordinarily need to acquire an ID. However, Wisconsinites must be physically at the DMV to initiate IDPP. Which means you need to have access to transportation to start the process. And not everyone has reliable transportation.
Shouldn’t every U.S. citizen who is 18 years old (or will be 18 by the next election), lives in Wisconsin, and is registered to vote have the opportunity to have their voice heard in our elections? Former Governor Scott Walker and the GOP legislature at the time fought like hell to enact a voter photo ID law that they claimed would inspire confidence in our elections and curb election fraud.
Have we ever seen widespread election fraud in Wisconsin? How about anywhere in the United States? We do not see widespread election fraud because it does not exist, especially the kind that a photo ID would prevent.
Wisconsin used to be home to the highest voter turnout in the country. Now, Wisconsin has been passed by states like Minnesota, Colorado, and Maine who have far fewer barriers in place for their citizens to cast a ballot. Meanwhile, we continue to make it harder for everyday Wisconsinites to have their voice heard on issues and matters that impact their lives.
Photo ID laws are created to limit certain voters from participating in our democracy instead of giving everyone a seat at the table who ought to be at the table. And now we have elected officials who want to cement our photo ID law into the Wisconsin Constitution under the same false narratives that were shared over a decade ago. Give me a break.
Voting should be easy for all eligible voters. Unfortunately, we have legislators who choose instead to disenfranchise individuals in Wisconsin who statistically may be less inclined to support their political agenda. Their voices matter and they will not be silenced.