Wisconsin voter ID signed into law - and will be paid for with public election financing money

Lawmakers in Wisconsin have approved what Wisconsin Common Cause is calling the “most extreme” voter ID law in the nation. The new law would require voters to show photo ID at the polls, which they do not currently have to do (read more on the law here). To cover the costs for the voter ID program (in the form of free ID cards for low income residents and an education campaign for election clerks as well as the public) the state eliminate the 33 year old election public financing system. Today Governor Scott Walker signed the voter ID requirements into law, which would not go into full effect until 2012 (though some changes would start for recall elections later this year)

Network partners in Wisconsin reacted today:

Common Cause in Wisconsin says: “In a single action, Wisconsin legislative Republicans have reversed and sent back into the Stone Age, two of Wisconsin’s proudest and most widely heralded election principles: State Supreme Court candidates free from special interest taint and unlimited campaign fund raising, and the ability to cast a vote in Wisconsin without burdensome and restrictive conditions.”

From the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin: “At a time when the majority in the Legislature is cutting funding for needed services, they pushed through this unneeded and unfair election bill which will waste tax dollars at the state and local government levels. They cited an “emergency” situation to ensure that parts of the law would be implemented in time to restrict voting in the Senate recall elections this summer.”

Wisconsin Democracy Campaign weighs in: “In effect, they are handing the keys to elections entirely over to wealthy special interests and using the money from the public financing program to fund the scheme to make it more difficult to vote.”

Read more:

Common Cause in Wisconsin: Budget panel Republicans vote to end public financing of elections in Wisconsin and use money for most extreme voter ID law in the nation

League of Women Voters of Wisconsin statement

Wisconsin Democracy Campaign: Swapping clean elections for voter suppression