Madison talk show host (and ex-gubernatorial candidate) Dan Potacke has this take on Wisconsin’s legislative leaders and their stated priorities for the next session;
Funny can be sad, too.
At his election night victory party, once-and-future Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald declared voter ID a priority, first and foremost. Assembly leader Jeff thought a jobs package deserved the lead-off slot, but big brother Fitzgerald, after winning his seat with 70% of the vote, was most concerned with voter fraud.
That bleeds irony.
At best, voter ID is a solution in search of a problem. Allegations of voter fraud are rare. When “fraud” is proven, many instances are felons still on probation or parole, performing what we teach schoolchildren is a civic responsibility.
At worst, voter ID is one of many GOP attempts to suppress traditionally Democratic voters. Make voting a little harder and these ignorant, lazy, minority Dem voters just won’t bother. Or so the thinking goes.
In reality, the GOP base isn’t any smarter. Based on conversations with a few clerks, when the Republican Governors Association sent out mailers trying to encourage early absentee voting for Scott Walker and crew, municipal offices were inundated with uninformed Republican voters wanting to register, not sure if they were registered, or demanding to register without anything more than the RGA mailer as “proof” of residence.
As voter fraud isn’t a problem anyway, “limited government” Republicans should not add more legislation, increase the burden on local clerks and disenfranchise eligible voters of both parties by adding an unnecessary step to the voting process. It seems so simple.
