You'll hear a lot of sound and fury about the impact of Wisconsin's new voter ID law. But as we see it, it is finally not much more complicated than this:
No one should have to pay to vote, ever.
Voting is a constitutionally protected right. No one who is legally qualified to vote, regardless of circumstance, should have to pay any fee -- period.
The Wausau Daily Herald on Sunday featured the story of Ruthelle Frank of Brokaw, an 84-year-old woman caught in a bureaucratic maze as she tries to obtain a state ID card so she can vote in next year's elections.
The condensed version of her story: Frank was born at home and never had a birth certificate. Without a birth certificate, she cannot obtain a state ID. Without a state ID, she will be legally ineligible to vote. And a birth certificate costs money -- money that Frank sees, justifiably, as the equivalent of a poll tax.
And by the way, Frank has lived in Brokaw her entire life, has served on the Brokaw Village Board for 15 years and has voted in every election since 1948.
It's hard to fathom that she could actually be turned away next year. It makes no sense.
The problems with the voter ID law are broad and deep. But there is a narrow proposal that would solve the specific problem faced by Frank and other legally eligible voters who lack birth certificates.
Sen. Jim Holperin, D-Conover, will introduce a bill -- perhaps today -- that would waive fees for residents seeking birth certificates in order to be allowed to vote.
State lawmakers, under pressure from voting-rights advocates, already changed the law to waive the cost of a state ID card for those who need them to vote.
Logically, the same argument -- that no one should have to pay to vote -- should apply for those who need government-issued birth certificates to get state-issued ID cards.
There is time before the 2012 elections to solve the particular problem Frank and others who lack birth certificates face. We hope Frank's own state senator, Republican Sen. Pam Galloway of Wausau, will sign onto Holperin's bill and help to see through its passage into law. In the long run, though, there remain serious questions about the foundations of the voter ID law itself.
It was expected that the GOP would pass some form of voter ID, said Jay Heck, executive director of the good-government advocated Common Cause Wisconsin. But "Wisconsin is by far the most restrictive" law in the nation, Heck said. Is that really the place we want to be? Shouldn't we be encouraging legally eligible voters to cast ballots -- not forcing them to jump through hoops?
It should be said that we were against the passage of a voter ID law in the first place. Under Republican Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen, Wisconsin's Justice Department devoted a lot of time and resources to investigating voter fraud in the 2008 election.
If systemic fraud were a significant problem, the contentious, high-turnout presidential year would clearly have brought it out. And cases adding up to more than a few scattered violations just did not materialize.
No matter. For some, widespread voter fraud is an article of faith.
But if voter ID is to be the law of the land here, Wisconsin residents deserve to know that no voter will be made to pay to vote, ever. Not for a state ID card -- and not for a birth certificate, either.
No one should have to pay to vote, ever.
Voting is a constitutionally protected right. No one who is legally qualified to vote, regardless of circumstance, should have to pay any fee -- period.
The Wausau Daily Herald on Sunday featured the story of Ruthelle Frank of Brokaw, an 84-year-old woman caught in a bureaucratic maze as she tries to obtain a state ID card so she can vote in next year's elections.
The condensed version of her story: Frank was born at home and never had a birth certificate. Without a birth certificate, she cannot obtain a state ID. Without a state ID, she will be legally ineligible to vote. And a birth certificate costs money -- money that Frank sees, justifiably, as the equivalent of a poll tax.
And by the way, Frank has lived in Brokaw her entire life, has served on the Brokaw Village Board for 15 years and has voted in every election since 1948.
It's hard to fathom that she could actually be turned away next year. It makes no sense.
The problems with the voter ID law are broad and deep. But there is a narrow proposal that would solve the specific problem faced by Frank and other legally eligible voters who lack birth certificates.
Sen. Jim Holperin, D-Conover, will introduce a bill -- perhaps today -- that would waive fees for residents seeking birth certificates in order to be allowed to vote.
State lawmakers, under pressure from voting-rights advocates, already changed the law to waive the cost of a state ID card for those who need them to vote.
Logically, the same argument -- that no one should have to pay to vote -- should apply for those who need government-issued birth certificates to get state-issued ID cards.
There is time before the 2012 elections to solve the particular problem Frank and others who lack birth certificates face. We hope Frank's own state senator, Republican Sen. Pam Galloway of Wausau, will sign onto Holperin's bill and help to see through its passage into law. In the long run, though, there remain serious questions about the foundations of the voter ID law itself.
It was expected that the GOP would pass some form of voter ID, said Jay Heck, executive director of the good-government advocated Common Cause Wisconsin. But "Wisconsin is by far the most restrictive" law in the nation, Heck said. Is that really the place we want to be? Shouldn't we be encouraging legally eligible voters to cast ballots -- not forcing them to jump through hoops?
It should be said that we were against the passage of a voter ID law in the first place. Under Republican Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen, Wisconsin's Justice Department devoted a lot of time and resources to investigating voter fraud in the 2008 election.
If systemic fraud were a significant problem, the contentious, high-turnout presidential year would clearly have brought it out. And cases adding up to more than a few scattered violations just did not materialize.
No matter. For some, widespread voter fraud is an article of faith.
But if voter ID is to be the law of the land here, Wisconsin residents deserve to know that no voter will be made to pay to vote, ever. Not for a state ID card -- and not for a birth certificate, either.
No comments:
Post a Comment