March 19, 2008

 

Voter Photo ID Would Prevent Voter Fraud

In late February, the Milwaukee Police Department released a report on its investigation into the many voting “irregularities” that occurred in Milwaukee in the November 2004 election.  As you may remember, that election in Milwaukee ended with a 4,600 difference between the ballots counted and the number of people listed as having actually voted.  In that same election, the identities and addresses of 1,300 people who registered and voted at the polls on Election Day in Milwaukee could not be verified.

Those are staggering numbers.  To put things in perspective, 21,000 people voted in Menomonee Falls in November 2004.  That means shoddy record keeping and outright fraud in Milwaukee may have cancelled out or diluted the votes of about one out of every four Falls residents.  When one considers how close elections in this state and country have been lately, the need to make sure only legitimate votes are counted is greater than ever.

There is an easy fix for this problem.  One of the easiest ways to ensure the integrity of the ballot box is to require people to show a valid photo ID before they vote.  Half the states in America require voters to show some sort of ID.  Republicans in the legislature have tried passing this requirement several times only to have this common sense proposal vetoed by Governor Doyle.

In the interest of taking the question directly to the people, I supported a constitutional amendment that would have asked Wisconsin voters via referendum if they support a photo ID requirement for voting.  Unfortunately, Democrats in the State Senate blocked this referendum from going to the people.

While our attempt to require that voters simply prove they are who they claim to be has fallen short this time, we will try again next session.  When fraudulent votes are counted, lawful votes are stolen.  I will continue working to protect legal voting in Wisconsin.