Tuesday, August 19, 2014
Voter ID fairy tales
For folks who enjoy fairy tales, the recent decision by the Wisconsin Supreme Court to uphold one of the most restrictive voter ID laws in the country is a dream come true.
Fairy tale No. 1 would have us believe that voter fraud is actually a problem needing to be fixed. The reality is that, of the millions of votes cast in Wisconsin elections since 2008, there have been 31 voter fraud prosecutions. Of that total, nearly half were felons who voted, something the voter ID law wouldn't have prevented since it's designed to prevent in-person voter impersonation, which by all measures is truly rare.
Then there's the myth that the required IDs will be free. Come on! Does anyone really believe you can get anything for free anymore? Those "free" IDs will have to be produced, processed and delivered to anyone who wants one. According to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau, the estimated cost just to implement the law could be as high as $5.7 million. Which means if the voter ID law had been in place these past few years, Wisconsin taxpayers would have spent roughly $300,000 to catch each of those "fraudulent" voters. For those who complain about government taxes and spending, how is this a good return on investment?
And finally, the Republican legislators who voted for this law want all of us to believe that voter ID is about protecting the integrity of the voting process. They're hoping most of us can't see the truth: This law is about nothing more than making it more difficult for students, poor people and the elderly to vote, segments of our society who tend to vote for Democrats. The reality is, this law will make it more difficult for many more people to vote and harder to cheat for a rare few.
In the real world, voter ID will cost us plenty. So those who worry about their taxes going up or who grouse about how unfortunate it is that more people don't vote, wake up. There are people in power who want us to keep believing in those fairy tales.
Jill J. Morin
Wauwatosa
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