H/T to Dane 101. This is too good not to share as widely as possible, thanks for putting this together!
The “Keep Wisconsinites From Voting Democratic” Bill passed yesterday, but not before the republicans voted down EVERY single amendment offered up by the democrats! Here is a step by step list of every amendment that was voted down:
* Dem amendment to require administration to find a way to pay for voter ID bill without raiding transportation fund; amendment fails.
* Dems offer amendment to require DMV’s to have evening and Saturdays in every county. Now that we are requiring people to have a DMV issued ID to vote, we should make sure people have access to DMV offices. Many counties have no DMV office or are only open once a month; amendment fails.
* Dems offer amendment to allow voters to vote without photo ID if they object to photos of themselves being taken for religious reasons; amendment fails.
* Dems offer amendment to require mobile DMV stations on college campuses if we aren’t going to have offices in every county open at night or on weekends; amendment fails
* Dems offer amendment to have mobile DMV stations in high poverty areas; amendment fails.
* Dems offer amendment to clarify what it means to have the name on your ID “conform” to the name on the voter rolls; i.e. John F Smith in the ID versus John Smith on the voter rolls; amendment fails
* Dems offer an amendment to make it clear on the DMV form that they can get the ID free of charge; amendment fails.
* Dems offer and amendment that moves the deadline to clarify the provisional ballot to 10 days after the election; amendment fails.
* Dems offer amendment to address absurdity in the law: you need photo ID to get a birth certificate AND you need a birth certificate to get a photo ID; amendment fails
* Dems offer amendment to ensure that the homeless and those in transient housing can still vote without proof of residency; amendment fails. Stone, author of the bill says homeless people will now have ‘responsibilities’ to exercise their right to vote. He also concedes he doesn’t know if DOT will give an ID with the address of a public library, as the homeless currently do. Wow.
* Dems offer an amendment to inform the voter if their vote has been deemed provisional. How else are voters to know if they have to correct their ballot; amendment fails
* Vruwink offers amendment to exempt towns from this bill; amendment fails. So much for local control.
* Dems offer amendment to remove requirement that voters mail in a copy of their photo ID when they vote by mail;amendment fails.
* Dems offer amendment to waive fees for secondary ID’s to get DMV voter card to avoid poll tax; amendment fails.
* Dems offer amendment that out of state license is acceptable form of ID if corroborating ID of current WI address; amendment fails.
* Dems offer amendment to clarify that if license is suspended revoked it is still valid for the purposes of voting; amendment fails.
* Dems offer amendment that says employers have to give 3 hours off of work to get to one of these rarely open DMV centers; amendment fails.
* Dems offer amendment to require clerks to keep voter lists up to date so that you right to vote is based on you proving your qualification as a voter NOT on the potential mistakes in a voter list; amendment fails.
* Dems offer amendment to keep expired ID’s valid back to the last NOVEMBER general election; amendment fails.
* Dems offer an amendment to allow for Student ID’s to be valid ID’s for the purposes of voting; amendment fails.
* Dems offer amendment to restore straight ticket voting; amendment fails.
* Dems offer amendment to all people with disabilities to be required from having to sign the voter roll if a disability prevents them from doing so; amendment fails.
* Dems offer amendment to give people with disabilities the opportunity to vote with other forms of government issued ID’s; amendment fails.
* Dems offer amendment to make it illegal to bribe someone with anything of value in exchange for signing a recall petition. Kensoha bartender was caught on tape trading shots for signatures. Amendment fails.
* Dems offer amendment to allow voters to stay on absentee list if they miss one election; amendment fails.
* Dems offer amendment to require county clerks to post results online community by community and ward by ward on election day. This would avoid clerks magically finding more than 14,000 votes two days after the election in a way that changes the outcome of a statewide election. Amendment fails.
* Dems offer amendment to allow any ID issued by any level of government to be valid for the purposes of voting. It will save the state at least $7 million on the cost of the bill; amendment fails.
* Dems offer amendments to allow affidavit to be signed verifying someone’s identity if they don’t have proper documentation on Election Day; they all fail
All Amendments fail and the voters of Wisconsin will pay the price.
Lock them up in courts, they’re breaking federal law by doing the poll tax and breaking the Wisconsin constitution as well. (The portion that it blocks the right of a recall, since the’re changing rules in the middle of the game.) I know, they don’t give damn about those things since It’s Okay If You’re A Republican — but the reason why Georgia and Indiana’s passed ultimately was that they had to make those standards so that it was possible to get an ID.
So good to see that republicans are not playing games like the dems are. This is something the people in Wisconsin have been asking for in this state foe a long time and its about time we have people in Madison who are actually listening to the people of the state not just a few thousand union members.
You know what, Notalib, you just sound like a kneejerk rightwing ideologue when you say stuff like that.
I had actually thought that you were stepping up your game a bit recently. This has me wondering if I was right about that.
“So good to see that [R]epublicans are not playing games like the [D]ems are.” Seriously?
“…[It’s] about time we have people in Madison who are actually listening to the people of the [S]tate, not just a few thousand union members.” Awww, man, not THIS kind of demagoguery again, Nota…Sheeesh!
For the record, Nota, the objective indications (e.g. recall petition drive results, grassroots enthusiasm, etc) are that “the people in Wisconsin” are getting ready to run the Republicans, Walker included, out of “town” on a rail.
Maybe you should wait for July 12th to roll around before you start crowing about “the people of Wisconsin” supporting the Walker/Republican/Koch brothers/wingnut agenda, an agenda that the Wisconsin Republicans are trying to “cram down everyone’s throats (Like that phrasing? I got it from the Republicans during the debate over the Affordable Care Act)at breakneck speed right now. The Republicans are clearly scared of what the “people of Wisconsin” actually want, and what “they” will say on July 12th, and they’re trying to get ahead of the curve.
You should be, too…
Moreover, does THAT sound like they’re doing the will of “the people of Wisconsin”?!
Next time, Nota, take a breath, and think before you write. When you write in such a one-dimensional ideological fashion it not only puts people off, Independents included, it suggests that your “analysis” is anything but, and that you are not to be taken seriously.
You have something to contribute here, Nota. State your opinions with clarity, and buttress them with logic, reason and evidence, rather than rightwing talking points and demagoguery. OR be forever relegated to the substance-free fringe of the discussions here, like the generic crazy uncle at a family gathering.
I know that there has GOT to be more to you than that, and I hope that I see it.
That’s because he is. If Republicans justified killing off an entire race, he’d probably be with them saying that they were trying to take away his rights anyway.
To continue my point: The more they hear whacked out statements, the more they believe that is normal and the right thing to believe. It’s exactly what happened in other parts of the world, whether it be under communism or whatever form of government. Once they hear it enough time, they comfort themselves for having this flawed logic. Example: In Japan they really wash their history of the terrible things that their country did. Only recently now they’re coming to terms with it and it’s why the other Asian Countries make a big deal out of it.
Why else do you think they were able to do a virtual genocide of the people of the ‘New World’? Because they ultimately thought it was the right thing. That the Natives were not using the land properly. That they were savages. Never mind the world they came from were just as barbaric a hundred years before and were as equally barbaric in getting rid of them. It’s like how people believed eugenics to be a good idea or how people simply were not qualified to even have rights.
Listen to a source that gives you bad information long enough, you believe that information to be the ultimate truth.
I’m just trying to encourage Notalib to do better, T, so I’m going about things a bit more diplomatically now than I used to with him.
Deep down, I’ve found, he does actually listen.
For the record, brother, I love your spirit and your passion. Rock on, man.
I hope you don’t move out of your home soon. Just saying, because under this law you’re going to have to get a brand spanking new ID for it.
This is beyond disgraceful Nota, and you know it. This is a dark, dark day for democracy in Wisconsin.
Is there any good reason we can’t have state ID’s issued at multiple sites? No.
Is there any good reason we can’t accept other forms of valid ID? No.
Is there any good reason we can’t invest in a statewide media campaign to inform people of these changes? No.
Is there any good reason we can’t expand hours and sites of DMV’s, comparable to Indiana? No.
Is there any good reason at all to push a Voter ID bill with the current provisions? No.
The day will come when this bill will be repealed, and everyone who voted for it will be remembered as the anti-democratic authoritarian that they really are.
Here’s some good news from Mike McCabe.
http://www.whby.com/news/whby/news/657dbf23c3bb/
I don’t know what angers me more, the fact that we have no trust at all in our fellow citizens to trust them to honestly present themselves at the polls, or the fact that the Republicans have completely ignored case law when crafting this turd of a bill.
“The Costs of Voter ID Laws: What the Courts Say” written by the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law. The three points below provide some of the requirements that must be met based on Voter ID case law. Also, these voter id laws cost states millions of dollars.
“First, photo IDs sufficient for voting must be available free of charge for all those who do not have them. States cannot limit free IDs to those who swear they are indigent.”
“Second, photo IDs must be readily accessible to all voters, without undue burden. At a minimum, most states will likely have to expand the number of ID-issuing offices and extend their operating hours to meet this requirement.”
“Third, states must undertake substantial voter outreach and public education efforts to ensure that voters are apprised of the law’s requirements and the procedures for obtaining the IDs they will need to vote.”
The money quote comes in the concluding paragraph of the paper. “States should therefore consider whether, in these difficult budgetary times, it is worth the dent in their budgets to introduce a new and controversial election procedure that has not been shown to improve election security.”
So here we have a solution to a problem that is unsupported by the evidence, a solution that would cost many millions of taxpayers dollars per year to maintain. The bill in its current form fails constitutional muster on all three points above. Then to make things worse, it will cost the state tens of millions to defend this travesty. The Democrats even tried to help the Republicans with the amendments offered, which were summarily dismissed.
It has to make you wonder about the abilities of these people, that they would put aside all common sense and reasonableness to drive their single minded agenda. They do not care about anybody except those putting cash in their pockets. It’s mind boggling.
Excellent comment and research, Rich. It does make you wonder if the Fitzgerald boys and Walkerhave any idea of what they’re doing. I think it’s more likely they smell Koch cash and think they can get away with anything.
You know, I’d have less of a problem with photo voter ID if were done right, and 1) it actually solves a problem, and 2) it didn’t cost so much. This doesn’t do any of it. And to infringe on the rights of the citizens of the country I wore a uniform to defend for 9 years really angers me.
T. “Listen to a source that gives you bad information long enough, you believe that information to be the ultimate truth.”
It sounds like all Rightists have valid ID cards and many Leftist have none. Lets be honest, this entire bill is a non-issue. Nearly everyone has a valid ID right now. Even the homeless. They ALL carry a valid ID so that the government’s police won’t lock them up for vagrancy. Show me a person without an ID and I’ll show you a criminal. The ultimate truth is that Government is the problem. Especially a government that charges outrageous ID card fees. Thank you Mr. Doyle.
Let’s be honest?
This bills purpose is to suppress as many votes as possible. Period. When a political party crafts legislation to suppress voter turnout it’s not a good day. It’s a bad day. And it says a whole hell of a lot about the GOP in Wisconsin and in other states across the nation. A whole hell of a lot.
Let’s be honest.
Steve do you have any stats from any of the states now now have voter ID requirement that there have been voter supression? I honestly have never heard of any problems, but if you can provide some stats just maybe I could have my opinion chnaged.
Posted this first in the wrong place!
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2006/08/15/states
http://www.blackcommentator.com/168/168_guest_musgrove_voting.html
http://www.rso.cornell.edu/progressive/articles.php?id=87
These are only three of many pieces I could have posted.
Now, Nota, can you provide us with similar evidence of the kind of voter fraud you feel requires a voter ID bill?
Here’s the problem: It has to be a specific type of ID. It can’t be just any old ID you get from the state, but it has to be a specific one, that is my issue with it. I know for a fact Georgia has ran into those problems, that someone showed their hunting license, with their photo and everything on it and still couldn’t vote. How do you find this fair, especially if it was given by the state?
Not quite, T.
IDs that could be used to vote are: Wisconsin driver’s licenses; state-issued ID cards; military IDs; passports; naturalization certificates; IDs issued by Wisconsin-based tribes; and certain student IDs.
What are the state issued ID cards specifically? I remember reading the bill, and that wasn’t in there at the time.
The thing is, there are places throughout the state that actually have less voter ID than voter turn out. Why? Because most of these places are pretty cut off, they may be in western Wisconsin, Northern Wisconsin, or Door County. Milwaukee County is a given because of how it’s mostly metropolitan and Madison in return.
While Outagamie, Brown, and Waukesha County are exceptions to this rule, this isn’t necessarily for the whole part of the state. And yes, I am saying this as a resident of Brown County.
@ No Left Turns who wrote, in pertinent part:
“The ultimate truth is that Government is the problem.”
Okay, Mr. Small Government, how do you feel about “the gubmint” telling women what to do with their bodies, and telling doctors what to tell women about what to do with their bodies?
We need a constitutional amendment to guarantee voter rights. It needs to be worded that ANY law regarding voting must NOT suppress the vote of any group of people.
All we need is the social security numbers of people at the time they register to vote. SS numbers are UNIQUE to each person unlike names and addresses. At the time they vote people just give their address, their name and the last 4 digits of their SS number. After voting the election board can use a computer program to sort thru by SS number and then justify and correct the records. If it appears that a person voted twice, if more than 1 person used the same SS number, if the person with that SS number was too young, a felon not off probation, or otherwise not qualified, these are turned over to enforcement. If there are just two addresses and 1 vote, then a letter followed up by a phone call or a visit to the address to determine which address needs to be struck off the rolls. I remember the people who we bought our house from continued to be carried on the election log for years after we moved in, and likewise, I am sure we continued to be carried on the logs out in Brookfield where we previously lived.
Identification based on SS is the rule in every other transaction in the US. Time our voting was based on that as well.
drsolo… what about the people who don’t have SS cards? Or do not want to divulge that number? Or can’t remember it? Are you willing to disenfranchise them? Also, when SS was created the federal government said it shouldn’t/couldn’t be required for other purposes than the SS program. Your suggestion also does not cover the possibility of me using your 4 digit code to vote and if you did not happen to vote that day and use your code, there would be no way of knowing that I committed fraud using your number.
Yeah, I’ll bet there’d be a lot of SS# theft in order to fraudulently vote. There are just teeming hordes of people out there waiting for the opportunity to fraudulently vote. We have to plan accordingly
We need a barcode on the forehead. There’s nothing in the US Constitution that says we can’t stamp a barcode into everyones forehead. There’s some vague warnings about it in the Book of Revelations, but nothing in the Constitution that explicitly prohibits it.
Time to settle this business once and for all.
Steve, are you also against the state’s current requirements to register to vote?
What, exactly, is wrong with the way we’ve been doing things for the last several decades? Why do we need a voter ID law?
It’s a simple question. Do you believe voters have been supressed by the current registration law that requires forms of identification?
Mine is a simple question as well and, in my view, one more germane to the matter at hand.
Why do we need a voter ID law?
Forgot,
Why don’t you just go ahead and make your point without trying to get me to help you. Go ahead and spit it out. You’l feel better and so will I.