Rep. Jeff Stone (R-Greenfield) is running for Milwaukee county executive. He is also one of the authors of a bill that could discourage many Milwaukeeans from voting, particularly minorities. That doesn’t seem like the most inclusive way to run for office in this county.
The bill would require all voters to have photo ID when they vote. The ostensible reason for this is that the voting system is riddled with fraud.
Stone and the Republicans have been arguing that our voting system needs reform since 2004. Prior to the 2004 presidential race, GOP officials claimed there would be as many as 37,000 fraudulent votes in Milwaukee. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel wrote more than 40 stories fanning the flames on the issue, including many front-page stories.
In response to the hubbub, Republican appointee and U.S. Attorney Steve Biskupic and Democratic Milwaukee County District Attorney E. Michael McCann launched an investigation of election irregularities and charged four people out of 277,000 city voters in the 2004 presidential election with voting twice. Yes, that’s four out of 277,000 voters.
Legislators later requested a Legislative Audit Bureau study in 2005. The Bureau studied the records of 348,000 voters across the state and found two individuals who may have voted twice. That’s right, two out of 348,000.
Four years later, according to Kevin Kennedy of the state Government Accountability Office, there was a total of 24 cases of voter fraud indictments or convictions in the entire state in the 2008 presidential election. Fourteen involved felons who had not completed their probation or parole (under the law they cannot vote until they do so). Just two of the 24 were accused of voting twice. The rest were cases of “providing false information” or “voting without qualifications.”
As a result of the pressure to crack down on alleged fraud, felons who have voted prior to completing their probation or parole have actually been prosecuted and served jail time. These are ex-criminals we want to rehabilitate and turn into good citizens. Do we really want to throw them in jail for voting?
Stone and the Republicans want Wisconsin to have one of the nation’s toughest photo ID laws. Only nine states in the nation require a photo ID, and seven of those allow voters without photo ID to vote if they sign affidavits. But the proposed Wisconsin bill wouldn’t allow this.
How many voters could potentially be discouraged from voting? After a photo ID law was passed in South Dakota in 2004, an Associated Press story found, about 25 percent of voters in poorer counties (those with large numbers of Native Americans) arrived at the polls without photo ID. But that state allows them to sign affidavits.
How many voters lack photo ID in Wisconsin? The UW-Milwaukee Employment & Training Institute has been doing research on driver’s license issues for more than a decade. Its first research showed a huge number of minorities lacked a valid driver’s license, which impeded their ability to drive to jobs in outlying areas. Many had lost their licenses due to nonpayment of fines (often unrelated to driving) like night parking fees. Renters without garages, often low-income residents, can get killed by night parking fines. (If Democrat and Mayor Tom Barrett wanted to do something about this issue, he would reform the night parking fees in Milwaukee.)
The Institute’s research – which has been cited by the U.S. Supreme Court (in a dissenting opinion), lower courts and law journals – found that among voting age adults statewide, 59 percent of Hispanic females, 55 percent of African-American males, 49 percent of African-American females and 46 percent of Hispanic males lacked a driver’s license. This compared to 17 percent of white males and 17 percent of white females who were without a valid driver’s license.
ETI found that more than 177,000 adults over the age of 65 lacked a driver’s license. Older women are particularly likely to lack a drivers license: One out of five Wisconsin women age 75-79 do not have a driver’s license, and one of three women age 80-84 lack a license. One person familiar with this anecdotally is longtime Republican and conservative Bob Dohnal, who worked for many years as a pharmacist. Many of his elderly customers, he once told me, didn’t drive and didn’t have a photo ID.
The proposed bill for Wisconsin would exempt senior citizens in nursing and retirement homes if special registration deputies are sent to their facilities. But how many senior citizens lacking driver’s licenses are not in such facilities? Back in 2005, when I asked Stone this, he said he didn’t know.
I’ve always found Stone to be a likeable, thoughtful legislator. So I’m mystified by his position on this issue. If the concern is people double voting, the problem seems minuscule and the solution ineffectual. Someone who registers at two polling places and showed a photo ID could still vote twice.
Stone tells me a legislative inquiry in Milwaukee in 2000 heard of instances of people voting under someone else’s name. But the actual investigations done since then haven’t turned up much evidence of this.
Meanwhile, how many voters will be turned away to impose this not-very-effective solution to a tiny problem? Yes, the law provides for free state photo IDs. “I’m going to be doing everything I can to make sure that anyone who wants an ID can have one,” Stone says.
But huge numbers of Wisconsinites have avoided getting a driver’s license, perhaps because they are poor and unable to pay fines, perhaps because they are old and unlikely to change. Whatever their reasons, Stone has no sympathy for them.
“Why don’t they do what everybody else does, what the majority of us have done, and get a photo ID?” he says.
As for why he won’t follow the lead of other states and allow those voters lacking photo ID to sign an affidavit, Stone emphasizes that a photo ID system would be “faster and more efficient.”
But isn’t the goal to eliminate fraud? If the goal is speed and efficiency, well, it’s always fastest when fewer people vote. Give Stone credit for the courage of his convictions, but as a candidate for county executive, he seems less than empathetic to many of Milwaukee’s voters.
How Bad is the State’s Budget?
A Sunday New York Times analysis of state budget deficits shows that Wisconsin is in a bad position but nowhere near as bleak as some states. Wisconsin’s projected shortfall for fiscal year 2012 is $1.8 billion, or about 12.8 percent of the 2011 budget. That’s a far cry from the worst deficits: Nevada’s stands at an incredible 45.2 percent of its budget (the “Silver State” is out of silver, it seems), Illinois is at 44.9 percent and New Jersey is at 37.4 percent. Wisconsin ranks right in the middle, far worse off than the state with the lowest deficit, Indiana (2 percent of its budget).
All told, it could be worse. But that’s probably small comfort to Gov. Scott Walker.
The Buzz
-At an age when most people are sitting in their rocking chairs, philanthropist Michael Cudahy continues to push for ways to improve the city. His call last week to raze the poorly constructed O’Donnell Park parking pavilion and move the Milwaukee Public Museum to the lakefront is a bold idea that’s worth consideration. This is perhaps the most prestigious piece of real estate in the state, and it needs something better and more ambitious than a 20-year-old parking garage that’s falling apart.
-Hula dancing? Perpetual bragging rights against Bears fans? The Sports Nut wonders how the Packers top this. Maybe with Cheesehead cowboy boots.
-And Pressroom Buzz looks at some recent examples of edgy and even courageous journalism.
