246.7 - Outrage of the Week: Wisconsin restricts voting rights

Outrage of the Week: Wisconsin restricts voting rights

But even as we edge in the right direction on one part of voting rights, we still seem to be moving further in the wrong direction on another aspect of that: voter ID laws.

Which brings us to Outrage of the Week.

Wisconsin has one of the most restrictive voter ID laws in the nation. It requires a government-issued photo ID in order to be able to vote.

Despite claims about a nonexistent plague of in-person voter fraud, the real purpose of such laws, is to suppress the votes of students and minorities, who tend to vote more liberal. If there ever was any doubt, we now have the word of a former top staffer for a Republican legislator in Wisconsin, who stated he was at a meeting where GOPper legislators openly said they wanted the law because it would help them at the ballot box.

It's estimated that 9 percent of Wisconsin registered voters, that's 300,000 voters, do not have a government-issued photo ID and will be disenfranchised in this year's elections.

Scott WalkAllOverYou

So the city and county of Milwaukee decided to help with this by providing local photo IDs to city and county residents who were having trouble getting such IDs.

So what's happened? On April 25, Wisconsin Gov. Scott WalkAllOverYou signed a bill passed by his cronies in the legislature prohibiting towns and counties from spending money on, or issuing, photo IDs. It also prohibits using city or village IDs to vote.

How blatant can you be?

How obvious can you make it that your intent is to actively hinder people - the young, the poor, minorities - from being able to vote? How transparent can you make your intention to rig the game, to fix the game, to show your desire to go back to the days of literacy tests and poll taxes, to guarantee the continuation of government of the rich and powerful, by the rich and powerful, and for the rich and powerful?

This is disgusting. It is despicable. It is an outrage.

Sources cited in links:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/4/5/1510915/-Scott-Walker-s-Wisconsin-may-disenfranchise-300-000-Americans-in-blatant-voter-fraud-scheme
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/todd-allbaugh-voter-id-wisconsin-gop
http://www.wpr.org/walker-signs-bill-blocking-communities-issuing-ids-voting