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Voter Protection - April 2008

The implications of Crawford v. Marion County (the Indiana voter ID law)

By Mitra - Apr 28th, 2008 at 5:36 pm EDT

Also listed in: Voter Protection

In Wisconsin, approximately half of the African-American population does not have driver's licenses, and at least 123,000 people were found to have no form of state-issued photo ID in 2005. And 33% of Wisconsin's DMV offices, where one theoretically could register to vote, are open less than 4 days a month. Lucky for us, though, Wisconsin is one of 9 states currently practicing same-day registration, so that despite the fact that it's 33% likely you live by a DMV that's almost never open, you can still register to vote on Election Day.

In the wake of the 2004 election, Indiana passed a voter ID law, citing the need to preserve electoral integrity and curb the rampant voter fraud that allegedly happens during presidential elections - despite the fact that several studies have shown this problem simply doesn't exist in Indiana, here in Wisconsin, or on a national level at all, for that matter.

Several organizations representing historically disenfranchised groups - namely, African-Americans, senior citizens, and the working poor - challenged this law in the U.S. Supreme Court, saying that it unduly burdens a citizen's right to vote. You'd think the Supreme Court would reject an argument made by lawmakers that this legislation is necessary to protect democracy by targeting a problem that doesn't exist and disenfranchising thousands of people in the process. Read More »

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Trend in voting rights legislation to follow

By Mitra - Apr 3rd, 2008 at 5:51 pm EDT

Also listed in: Voter Protection

The Kentucky House has approved a proposed constitutional amendment seeking to automatically restore the voting rights of certain felons.

(See http://www.lex18.com/Global/story.asp?S=8105451&nav=menu203_2)

Rep. Parisi of Madison is currently sponsoring legislation in the Wisconsin Assembly to the same effect.

"Felon voting" was a huge issue in the 2004 Milwaukee elections fiasco. Legislation like this would allow felons who have been put on supervised release to be rewarded for their good behavior with automatic re-enfranchisement, instead of having to obtain a pardon from the governor to restore their voting rights.

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