Posted on 11/04/2004 6:36:01 AM PST by machman
Party asserts that potential for fraud is too great in state
By STEVE SCHULTZE sschultze@journalsentinel.com Posted: Nov. 3, 2004
With the dust from the presidential race still settling - and Wisconsin barely dodging Florida's fate in 2000 - Republicans on Wednesday renewed calls for tightening voting laws to lessen the potential for election fraud.
State Republican Party Chairman Rick Graber and Assembly Speaker John Gard called for changing the law to require voters to show a picture ID card before being allowed to vote. They said that problems Republicans uncovered in Milwaukee underscored the need for the change.
GOP officials charged that thousands of voters in Milwaukee were registered to bad addresses, such as vacant lots, and also complained about a voter registration project with local jail inmates, some of whom were felons and not entitled to vote.
Gard, of Peshtigo, promised that lawmakers would consider a measure to require voter identification at the polls when the Legislature convenes in January.
"Democrats and Republicans alike should be concerned about the incredible problems we had across this state," Gard said. Barrett criticized
Gard blasted Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett's handling of the voter registration problems. "(He) has got to be embarrassed about what happened in Milwaukee," Gard said. "You've got thousands of addresses they know don't exist."
Barrett and Lisa Artison, executive director of the city Election Commission, said Wednesday that voting went smoothly, aside from some long lines at a few polling places. Barrett said those problems were largely confined to 35th Street School and a couple of other voting sites and were corrected by adding poll workers.
Milwaukee County District Attorney E. Michael McCann agreed that voting went well overall. His office is investigating one claim of double-voting and an instance in which a senior citizen who had already voted absentee was given another ballot when he accompanied his wife to the polls. The man didn't use it; instead, he turned it over to McCann's office. Poll observers credited
Hundreds of election observers, favoring either President Bush or Democratic Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, contributed to the smooth running of the election, McCann said. But the large number of observers were a function of the red-hot presidential race and shouldn't be counted on for patrolling future races, he said.
While Republicans continued to stress Wisconsin's vulnerability to election fraud, Democrats and others said the relative lack of problems in Tuesday's election suggested the laws needed no overhaul.
Barrett, Gov. Jim Doyle and McCann - all Democrats - said requiring a picture ID is unnecessary. Most people use a driver's license as their photo identification; those who don't have a license could be discouraged from voting, Barrett said.
Doyle remains staunchly opposed to the photo ID measure, a version of which he vetoed in the last legislative session. He said this year's election fears were "a lot more brouhaha than reality."
Doyle singled out long lines as the most serious problem. That can be rectified for future elections by implementing a planned computerized voter registration list and increasing the number of poll workers, he said. 2 reforms offered
McCann suggested two reforms: better funding for election officials so that well-trained poll inspectors can be hired and voter lists that are regularly updated.
"We are running elections on the cheap," McCann said.
He also said the state should make it illegal to pay a bounty for each new voter registration, a system that can encourage abuses such as ones discovered this year in Milwaukee and Racine.
Assembly Minority Leader Jim Kreuser (D-Kenosha) said Democrats plan to introduce a bill soon that would automatically register people who have a Wisconsin driver's license.
Charles Franklin, a University of Wisconsin-Madison political scientist, said Wisconsin came close to becoming a legal battleground for a contested presidential election - something that likely would have happened had Kerry won in Ohio.
Given the high stakes presidential race, an Ohio win by Kerry might have prompted a post-election effort by Republicans to press charges of Wisconsin balloting problems and seek a recount here, Franklin said.
He said both sides in the presidential race hyped potential problems with the voting process as a way to gain some advantage. In general, Wisconsin's voting problems "aren't that serious," Franklin said.
Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker said most of the extra 277,000 ballots that were provided to the city at Barrett's insistence probably were unneeded, as Walker had argued.
Had Wisconsin turned into a battleground, those extra ballots might have turned into a hot issue, Walker said.
Patrick Marley and Stacy Forster of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report.
I want the DOJ or some official body to begin to investigate the voting process in Philadelphia...the number of votes for Democrats in that city is astounding. Are they all for real, or are there phantoms out there pulling the lever for 'rats?
Step One: repeal Motor Voter
Death penalty for voter fraud bump!
Duh, I meant plates every year. DL every 4. Thanks for waking me up!
I don't see how this changes things. If an illegal alien gets a driver's license, he can use that as ID to register to vote after illegally and incorrectly verifying that he is a citizen. What makes you think that someone intent on fraud would be deterred by having to take two steps to do it rather than one?
All Veterans vote TWICE!
They were willing to give the IDs out for free and some Dems slammed that, saying that not everyone would be able or willing to keep up with an ID card. Amazing how the Demoncraps in WI make their case on the assumption that people are too stupid, lazy or irresponsible to carry a lousy ID.
Motor/voter is kinda like the shall issue concealled weapons law, the secretary of state offices cannot deny a voter registration application. No confirmation of citizenship, address confirmation etc. is required. VOTE FRAUD
Nothing about citizenship or felon status is asked on driver's license/state ID applications in WI. Not sure about other states.
I think that voter fraud is a lot more widespread than anyone thinks. What is to stop a college student from sending an absentee ballot to his home state and registering to vote from his college address, too? My Mom worked at a polling place Tuesday which had a huge number of college students voting and wondered how many of them were actually out-of-staters double-dipping.
They better do something about PA, I am not crazy about standing in line for 1 hour and 40 mins and seeing 110% voter turnout in that cesspool they call Phila.
I think Michigan was stolen too. Especially after seeing the outstate returns.
Well if that's correct, then motor/voter should go. It makes no sense to require swearing that you're eligible to vote under normal registration and not doing so under motor/voter.
Concur.
It's a bad law, also, illegals should be banned from getting drivers lic. Than deported.
Yes. "Motor voter" automatically registers them to vote. There would be no other forms to fill out. That's precisely the problem. When you consider that liberals propose giving illegal aliens driver's licenses, then you begin to see the real problem.
I would have no problem with making voter registration available at the same time as getting your DL, but don't ever make it automatic. If you don't have enough concern to register to vote, you sure as hell don't have any business voting!
bump for later...
This should be the first thing passed. We should standardize voting by requiring some form of ID to vote. I worked the polls in TEXAS. We don't require a photo ID but we require some form of ID. As long as they are on the rolls, we accept any form of ID such as credit cards, printed checks with their name on it or driver's license. I don't understand why this is such a big deal.
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