Proposed Wisc. Voter ID Law Would Make Registering to Vote 'Really Hard', Maddow Whines
Curse those wascally Wepublicans in Wisconsin, you'll never believe what they're up to now.
Bad enough for the Badger State GOP to abet Gov. Scott Walker in his nefarious scheme to prevent public-sector unions from bankrupting the state. Worse, they are hatching even more diabolical plots while Dem state senators continue their courageous evasion of the law to avoid voting on Walker's proposal.
Here are the sordid details, as ferreted out by ace ferret-outer Rachel Maddow on her MSNBC show Monday night (video after page break) --
Just in case it wasn't clear enough, when the Republicans in Wisconsin announced today what they're going to do while the Democrats are gone, while the Democrats are out of state denying the Senate the quorum it needs to vote on this union-busting thing, guess what the Republicans are going to do while the Democrats are away? Guess what they're going to do next? It is a bill to make it harder to register to vote in Wisconsin. You know, weirdly, we used this last week as an example of the kinds of issues that Republicans do this on, as an example of the way Republicans use public policy for partisan ends, to benefit their own party and hurt Democrats. Registering new voters has long been a great source of Democratic electoral strength. Why is that? Because young voters and people who haven't voted before do tend to vote Democratic. So, if Republicans can make it really hard to register to vote, they can take away one of the ways that Democrats win in elections. If you make it harder to register to vote, you make it harder for Democrats to win elections.
Contrary to what Maddow claims, Wisconsin Republicans did not wait until state senate Democrats were conveniently out of state before they "announced" their plans for the voter ID bill. The proposed legislation has been in the works for weeks, as evident from this news about it on Jan. 13.
The legislation would also require Wisconsin residents to produce a photo ID when they vote, not when they register to vote as Maddow asserted. In fact, Wisconsin residents are already required to prove their identity when they register, as indicated at the website of Wisconsin's Government Accountability Board. In its page on voter registration, the board states --
As of January 1, 2006, all municipalities in Wisconsin require voter registration prior to a person being allowed to vote.
The federal "Help American (sic) Vote Act of 2002" requires any person registering to vote to supply his or her Wisconsin Department of Transportation-issued driver's license number.
Electors who have not been issued a Wisconsin driver's license must provide the last four digits of their Social Security Number OR their Wisconsin state ID card number.
How comforting that as of 2006, Wisconsin lawmakers decided that residents had to be registered to vote prior to "being allowed to vote." Wisconsin as hotbed of liberal initiatives, indeed. Gives you some idea of what Gov. Walker is dealing with.
The "Help America Vote Act of 2002" was passed by overwhelmingly by both chambers of Congress in 2002 and signed by President Bush in an attempt to avoid another Florida recount debacle.
In a Jan. 9 2008 column in the Wall Stree Journal, OpinionJournal.com columnist John Fund, author of "Stealing Our Democracy: How Voter Fraud Threatens Our Democracy," described numerous examples of the subject of his book --
In Washington state's disputed 2004 governor's race, which was won by 129 votes, the election superintendent in Seattle testified in state court that ineligible felons had voted and votes had been cast in the name of the dead. In Milwaukee, Wisc., investigators found that in the state's close 2004 presidential election, more than 200 felons voted illegally and more than 100 people voted twice. In Florida, where the entire 2000 presidential election was decided by 547 votes, almost 65,000 dead people were still listed on the voter rolls -- an engraved invitation to fraud. A New York Daily News investigation in 2006 found that between 400 and 1,000 voters registered in Florida and New York City had voted twice in at least one recent election.
.... In 2005, 18 of 21 members of a bipartisan federal commission headed by former President Jimmy Carter and former Secretary of State James Baker came out in support of photo ID requirements more stringent than Indiana's (a reference to a then-looming Supreme Court decision in Crawford v. Marion County Election Board, in which the court decided that the state's voter ID law was not unconstitutional). "Voters in nearly 100 democracies use a photo identification card without fear of infringement on their rights," the commission stated. Mr. Carter feels strongly about voter fraud. In his book "Turning Point," he wrote of his race for Georgia State Senate in 1962, which involved a corrupt local sheriff who had cast votes for the dead. It took a recount and court intervention before Mr. Carter was declared the winner.
In fairness to Maddow's point, requiring photo IDs otherwise can be downright annoying. Only days ago I was asked for one at my bank to withdraw some of my money. Think of how convenient it would be if banks were mandated not to require photo ID when their customers made withdrawals. Yes, the potential for fraud is enormous, but it's the principle that counts, right?
Just getting to the bank was rendered "really hard" for me due to the draconian law requiring motorists to be in possession of a driver's license. And try getting through an airport these days without a photo ID -- fuggedaboutit.
Lastly, Maddow's assertion that "young voters and people who haven't voted before tend to vote Democratic" speaks volumes, implying as it does that people who have voted before tend not to vote Democratic.
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Comments
Just yesterday in the Socialist State of Connecticut...
Submitted by Fenwick on Wed, 02/23/2011 - 8:21am.
I had to show a photo ID when I voted in a special election for a state senatorial vacancy. My Lord, if this is happening in CONNECTICUT where will it STOP?!?!?!?
P.S. Years ago when I first moved here and had to pay PROPERTY TAX on my car, I made the check out to the "Socialist State of Connecticut"... and they cashed it without a problem. I still keep the cancelled check as evidence. ;-)
Them Crazy Republicans.
Submitted by SnapTie on Wed, 02/23/2011 - 8:36am.
What that guy Maddow was saying,we won't be able to have Democratic rampant voter fraught. I had to show my ID to vote in Florida.
Maddow wants us to realize
Submitted by kg on Wed, 02/23/2011 - 9:48am.
Maddow wants us to realize Democrats are not smart enough to register.
"DumbAssity of Dope"
A Lot to Stew About
Submitted by libBuster on Wed, 02/23/2011 - 10:58am.
The Democrats have a lot to stew about. Voter ID laws were upheld by the US Supreme Court in Crawford v. Marion County. Requiring a government issued id to vote cuts down on the shenanigans Democrats can pull.
Floridian also...
Submitted by adamsmith on Wed, 02/23/2011 - 11:24am.
As a Floridian also, I have to show my Driver's License and Voter Card if I want to vote, as well as sign my name. I was under the assumption that all states required this. Maddow is supposed to be some Rhodes scholar but it seems she's not all that in the history department. Ever wonder why Election Day is held on one of the worst weather days of the year? The Founders wanted the vote limited to people who were informed politically so the country would run more efficiently. They wanted those out in the outer areas bogged down in the mud,snow,etc as they really weren't up to date living away from the cities. The Founders wanted it difficult to vote so no domestic enemies like our current Progressive Anti-American Socialists could sway the country. The Democratic Party has done everything to include domestic enemies in the voting system....
thirty-six per cent
Submitted by Franksam on Wed, 02/23/2011 - 8:36am.
So maybe the teachers' unions are obligated to deliver a certain number of young ignorant new voters each cycle to replace the people who wise up. No wonder they're okay with a 36 per cent literacy rate in eighth grade. This is job security for them.
Oh, my.... I wonder if Rachel
Submitted by motherbelt on Wed, 02/23/2011 - 8:37am.
Oh, my.... I wonder if Rachel saw this:
Arizona Targets Benefits for Illegals
She'll really have a meltdown!
Uh, don't the poor have to
Submitted by MichaelPaladin on Wed, 02/23/2011 - 8:41am.
Uh, don't the poor have to show some form of I.D. to get their government benefits?
Naaahhhh!
Submitted by almostacowboy on Wed, 02/23/2011 - 12:42pm.
They just have to provide the location of the park bench they're sleeping on tonight. Right, Ohio?
Oh the inhumanity
Submitted by MI_Woodworker on Wed, 02/23/2011 - 8:57am.
I recently moved to Michigan, I was aghast at the 'difficulty' I had in registering to vote, I had to SHOW MY LICENSE at the DMV!!!! How terrible. To make matters worse, I had to SHOW MY LICENSE AGAIN when I wanted to vote, Oh my goodness, it is SOOO HARD miss MADDOW!
As usual, the make believe media has nothing to report except lies. You need to show a DL to get on an airplane, how difficult is that?
Journalism?
Submitted by alright now on Wed, 02/23/2011 - 9:07am.
Does she research any story? Research? We don't need no stinkin' research!
Did she just admit. Young
Submitted by danbo on Wed, 02/23/2011 - 9:08am.
Did she just admit. Young people/people with no experience are the democrats base. But once they grow up, see the democrats in action. They vote republican.
If I want to go out of the country. I need to apply for a passport well in advance. And show how many ID's, provide photos... Should Rachael be lecturing us about that evil TSA asking us for photo ID's (not to mention scanning and searches) just to get on a plane. Her frends at ACORN were indicted and found guilty how many times for voter fraud????
"You lie!" Rep. Joe Wilson R-(SC)
Have'n to produce ID would cut down on Fraud
Submitted by donabernathy on Wed, 02/23/2011 - 9:13am.
we can't be have'n none of that.... now where is that doctors note.
roflmao
Registering to vote? Oppositions? Hmmmm.
Submitted by Ashrak on Wed, 02/23/2011 - 9:27am.
I suppose, then, a special license (permission slip), fee based of course, must be required. We must have an 8 or 10 hour training course including a demonstration of ability to operate the voting machines and the understanding of laws about exercise of this right.
Mental defectives must be denied this right and those who do not pass the imposed tests or do not have a permission slip must be disallowed exercise. They must be punished with felonies if they dare do so or even attempt to do so. So too must they be punished if they are of sound mind but refuse to submit to the permission and training being required - oh and if they reject the notion that they must pay government to exercise this right.
Isn't this what the progressives command about exercise of the Second Amendment? Doesn't Rachel herself support all these things regarding firearms?
It is time to call these folks out endlessly with the best ammunition available - their own positions on the Second Amendment! Hammer the Hypocrisy.
Check out the situation here in Illinois on that point.
Making a BIG mistake?
Submitted by MacWell on Wed, 02/23/2011 - 9:31am.
The democrat party is making a big mistake with all of this fraud. We the people have woken up from our slumber to find that our republic is in the process of being overtaken by less than 25% of the population. That small number of liberals has been dictating how America does just about everything from how we light our homes, to what we're allowed to eat, drive, and, in many ways, how we're supposed to think. I say it's long past time for we the people to tell these nutjobs to go take a hike. We the people have been held hostage by liberal policy for far too long. IMHO, we need to send these, do as I say, not as I do, butt heads packing. just sayin
Only a problem for illegal
Submitted by Miss_Me_Yet on Wed, 02/23/2011 - 9:32am.
Only a problem for illegal aliens, those who vote 10 times under 10 assumed names, the dead. The problem for the democrat party is the fact that these individuals make up 40% of their voting block.
Liberals ... we can't live with them, they couldn't survive without us ...
Maybe election day should be
Submitted by danbo on Wed, 02/23/2011 - 9:40am.
Maybe election day should be moved to October 31. We might get a better turnout of the dead. We wouldn't want to discriminate against them.
"You lie!" Rep. Joe Wilson R-(SC)
The same democrat voters....
Submitted by redright88 on Wed, 02/23/2011 - 9:42am.
...Will sleep out overnight in freezing temperatures to get a discount on a Nintendo Wii game from Best Buy, but ask them to show an ID to vote...."OUTRAGEOUS"!!!
Cowards
Submitted by Doktor Riktor V... on Wed, 02/23/2011 - 9:50am.
The neomarxist Democrats are doing what they do best; running in the face of adversity. The WI governor and GOP have actually confronted them and they, like the scaredy cats they are ran and hid with their tails between their collectivist legs. So much for the new tone of civility. However it does remind of something I once said;
"when the going get's tough, the left gets gone"
Last Presidentail election
Submitted by dirtydan64 on Wed, 02/23/2011 - 10:08am.
There was a Teacher who would take is class down to the Library where we voted, I saw class after class hour after hour so I got curious and called the School Supervisor where he said he was just taking them down there to show them how it all Works and those old enough to vote voted.
I said well if there interested in how the process works By all means get a voided Ballot and run some copies and hold your own Election in your classroom and for those who voted while you were"Watching" how the process works, I simply siad does a Horse need to be lead to the trough for water ? His answer was no, I said see my point. Since then there's no classes walking down to the Libary to this Day !!! I also said I wanted to see where it says this Teachers is allowed to take the children to a Election Voting booth ? I still haven't recieved it so I guess theres no paragraph stating such either.....
Translation
Submitted by Sigman on Wed, 02/23/2011 - 10:53am.
If you make it harder to register to vote, you make it harder for Democrats to win elections.
Translation-"If you make it harder for Illegal voters to register to vote , you make it harder for democrats to win elections.
Really hard?
Submitted by almostacowboy on Wed, 02/23/2011 - 12:41pm.
I'll tell you what's really hard, Mr/Ms Maddow - trying to figure out how someone with your obvious mental limitations became a Rhodes Scholar.
Rhodes scholar
Submitted by sarge329 on Wed, 02/23/2011 - 12:59pm.
What are the requirements or prerequisites for receiving a Rhodes scholarship? It would seem that they have plummeted. It used to be a hallmark of a stellar character. Then we find out that Bubba Clinton got one. Maybe it's a mark of the steady decline of the British Empire. If Mr. Maddow is a Rhodes scholar, maybe anyone be one. Gee, I wonder if I should contact the proper authorities to find out how to apply.
ID when voting
Submitted by sarge329 on Wed, 02/23/2011 - 12:48pm.
You present your photo ID/drivers license and SSN when you register to vote. When you vote, you show your photo ID/drivers license. Gee, that was hard. If you don't have a drivers license, you apply to the state, and receive a state photo ID. Voting is a privilege, not a right. If you can't prove you are who you say you are, you don't get to vote. If you try to vote without proof of identity, you could be accused of voter fraud. That may not be that big a deal in Chicago, New York City, or Detroit, but it is out here in " flyover country " . It's all part of being a citizen. A citizen obeys the laws. Illegals don't.
so condescending
Submitted by MissMinPhx on Wed, 02/23/2011 - 2:28pm.
Does Maddow realize that she is essentially saying that it is simply too difficult for democrats to show an id at the polls. It's really, really hard, and emotionally devestating to be asked to remove your id from the back of your pocket and show it to the mean (probably judgemental) poll worker. You just have to wonder how her viewers don't realize how little she thinks of them - she lies to them and then tells them they are not capable of showing id to vote. Ya gotta wonder why they keep tuning in.
Oh REALLY?
Submitted by Cappmann1962 on Wed, 02/23/2011 - 5:01pm.
...an example of the kinds of issues that Republicans do this on, as an example of the way Republicans use public policy for partisan ends, to benefit their own party and hurt Democrats.But it's okay for Democrats to use taxpayer funds to pay for entities such as ACORN to violate voting laws, registering ineligible people, registering people more than once, registering dead people, registering illegals, paying people to register, filling out registration forms for people, etc. - in other words, DEMOCRATS using public policy for partisan ends, to benefit their own party and hurt REPUBLICANS. Sound familiar Rachel?