In response to the pending recall elections, Wisconsin Republicans are quickly trying to pass legislation that would make it much harder for people to vote:
Wisconsin?s bill requires voters to use a driver?s license, state ID, military ID, passport, naturalization papers or tribal ID at the polls. Though student IDs are technically permitted, none of the colleges or universities in the state currently use IDs that meet the requirements listed in the bill. And as state Sen. Bob Jauch (D) notes, 175,000 seniors (70 percent of whom are women) do not have driver?s licenses and may have to ?get a ride at least 50 miles round trip to obtain an identification card to enable them to continue their constitutional right to vote.? What?s more, the bill will cost the state more than $5.7 million to implement ? at a time when Gov. Scott Walker (R) is claiming the state is broke and needs to restrict public employees? collective bargaining rights to survive.
The bill moved through its relevant state Assembly committee yesterday on a party-line vote. It is expected to be taken up by the full state Assembly tomorrow.
State Representative Jennifer Shilling sums up the purpose of the bill nicely: (emphasis mine)
La Crosse Assembly Democrat Jennifer Shilling said she'd been wondering why Republicans were rushing this bill.?Now we know why,? she said. ?It is about pending elections. Immediate elections."
Shilling called the entire bill cumbersome, confusing and expensive and said it could drive down turnout in student-heavy districts.
?You feel the rules need to be changed in the middle of the game," she chided Republican lawmakers.
Shilling is challenging Republican Senator Dan Kapanke in one of the recall elections.
We've added Jennifer Shilling to the Orange to Blue page. Please, chip in $8 to help her defeat Republican Dan Kapanke, and put an end to the Republican attack on democracy in Wisconsin.
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