Voter Id: Crying Racism in Wisconsin


Looks like the Wisconsin GOP is at it again. This time they have passed a bill requiring voters to show ID before voting. Cue the violins. (h/t Althouse)

Amid chants of “Shame!” and “Recall!” from the gallery, the state Senate on Thursday gave final approval to a controversial bill requiring voters to show photo identification at the polls. The measure now heads to Gov. Scott Walker, who said he plans to sign it next Wednesday.

“Requiring photo identification to vote will go a long way to eliminate the threat of voter fraud,” Walker said. “If you need an ID to buy cold medicine, it’s reasonable to require it to vote.”

Republicans in the state Assembly passed the bill in a late-night session last week. Debate in the GOP-controlled Senate began Tuesday, running until after 1 a.m. Wednesday, when Democrats used a procedural move to delay final passage.

On Thursday, Senate GOP leaders limited floor debate to one hour. Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, defended the time limit saying the topic “has received a lot of debate,” and Democrats had had plenty of chances to speak on the floor.

When the call for a vote was made, Sen. Fred Risser, D-Madison, was speaking and tried to continue.

“In my 50 years, I’ve never had anyone cut me off!” yelled Risser, the nation’s longest-serving state lawmaker.

Sen. Jon Erpenbach, D-Middleton, moved to adjourn. Senate President Mike Ellis, R-Neenah, repeatedly banged his gavel and began the roll call over the protests of Democrats.

The bill passed 19-5 along party lines, with many Democrats refusing to vote. Some later said the GOP would not add their votes following the chaos

You might recall a funny story from back in the Fleabagger days last February when this bill was voted out of committee despite the plaintive cries from a Democrat trying to participate via telephone, even as he was hiding out in Illinois, or wherever. Pretty funny, but also a sign of the dysfunction that comes from having too many liberals in elected office: even common sense reform like a Voter ID law needs a bizarre circumstance like the mass decamping of the entire Democratic caucus in order to pass.

And, that's the most befuddling thing about the Voter ID movement: why all the vitriol and hysterics over "racism?" (yeah, yeah, I know "why." It's a rhetorical question). Are Democrats so wedded to half-assed balloting as a strategy for winning elections? I keep hearing how this will disenfranchise people who don't have ID. I'd say if you literally don't have ID, you are self-disenfranchising.

Having some form of picture ID is a basic of American life, thanks in part to the meddling administrative state so beloved of liberals. If there is one American citizen (we're the only ones who are supposed to be voting, after all) who lacks a picture ID, I'd like to know his name. On the one hand, he has to be so poor and out of it that he can't even bring himself to obtain basic documentation, but on the other he must have no need for welfare or other benefits, which - I presume - you need to show some form of ID to receive. This person does not exist, except in the fevered minds of the Left.


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