One Wisconsin Now writes on voter ID:
http://www.onewisconsinnow.org/blog/2011/01/why-voter-id-is-bad-for-wisconsin.html
Here is the response from Ken Van Doren – Campaign for Liberty in Wisconsin
1. OWN cites all kind of statistics. Where did these number come from, and who determined them?
2. Just because only a few were found guilty of voter fraud does not mean that these few were all the fraudulent votes cast. Witness the anecdotal evidence of busloads of people coming in during the 2008 fall election. Also, as a poll watcher, I was not allowed to examine the evidence of residency that voters presented. One “progressive” web site seemed to invite fraud with the information, “Voting in Wisconsin could not be easier. If you have a friend who is registered, he can vouch for you even if you do not have identification or other proof of residency.” Also, witness that in Milwaukee, the lion’s share of same day registrations came after 5PM. Could it be that this was a purposeful plan to overwhelm the elections staff so they would not have time to carefully consider the evidence of residency? The opportunity if not the fact of fraud was certainly there. No one can tell, with our lax registration requirements, how many fraudulent votes actually were cast, but no doubt the number far exceeded the 3 that they cite. But more than that, why should there be even one, when voter fraud could so easily be prevented?
3. OWN is worried about disenfranchisement. A fraudulent vote in effect cancels 2 legitimate ones. First, one vote to wipe out the fraudulent one, and another to re-establish the advantage or vote differential that otherwise would have prevailed. Why is not OWN just as worried about the disenfranchisement of legitimate voters as they are about voters who may or may not be voting legitimately?
4. OWN complains that voters can not make it to DOT stations to get an ID. Why not? They have all year, and if voting is a priority for them, you would think that they would be able to find the time long before election season.
5. Among those without driver’s licenses or ID’s there are some who are not mentally competent. How many of the others are felons, illegal aliens or otherwise not elibible to vote? Surely these numbers are not insignificant.
6. Most of the people OWN seems most worried about live in major metro areas, where there are DOT offices that are open 5 days a week. In Milwaukee, there are even days where they are open early and late at least one day per week, and one has Saturday hours. None of the DOT offices that are only open once a month or even once a week is in a major metro area. There are DMV offices that are lucky to get 50 license/ID applicants per month, and I understand that DOT management staff has repeatedly advised closing down the low volume offices in order to save taxpayers’ money.
7. In those areas where where the DMV offices are open once per month, there is another office that is open more frequently within the same county. Wisconsin’s excellent and expensive road system allows for transportation to a site that is within easy reach for everyone in the State.
8. Before the law passed making it illegal to provide driver’s licenses to illegals, that there were an estimated 400,000 licenses issued with deficiencies of proof. Some definitely were citizens and qualified but did not have adequate documentation, but estimates of illegals who got licenses, and thereby gained the “right” to vote could be in excess of 100,000.
9. We welcome OWN’s newfound concern for the taxpayers and big government run amok. Hopefully they will manifest this new attitude with regard to other issues before the state legislature.
In a society where representation is decided democratically, there is no better guarantee of government integrity than to insure the integrity of the vote. OWN at every turn wants to encourage policies that would invite and encourage fraud. Honest government starts with honest votes. NOW is time to address this and several other voting related issues.
