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TWO MILWAUKEE SENATE DEMOCRATS LACK COURAGE ON VOTER ID BILL
State Sens. Jeff Plale and Tim Carpenter vote with the GOP to suppress the Milwaukee vote
by Robert Miranda
April 25, 2005
Opposing the bill that would require voters to show a photo ID should be a stand all Democrats are willing to take against the politics of fear being perpetuated by the extremists of the political Right.
Indeed, leadership is what is needed in this effort to stop the photo ID bill (AB 63) from becoming law in Wisconsin. Why should we stand against this undemocratic bill? Simply put, it’s a law that suppresses the votes of the poor, people of color and elderly in Wisconsin.
However, not all Democrats seem to get it. Two Milwaukee lawmakers, Senators Tim Carpenter and Jeff Plale joined Senate Republicans in support of the photo ID requirement in early April. The Senate tally was 21-12, leaving Republicans just one Senate Democratic vote short of the two-thirds majority needed for a veto override. In the state Assembly, the GOP is also one vote shy of the super-majority.
Gov. Doyle vetoed a similar bill in 2003 and is vowing to veto this bill as well.
Gov. Doyle is again displaying leadership, standing firm for the democratic values and principles for which his party was once noted. Doyle understands the need to maintain courage, to stand tall and not being afraid to meet the challenges of maintaining a free and open society in this post 9/11 era. His actions speak volumes to the words Franklin D. Roosevelt once said: “All we have to fear is fear itself.”
VOTER ID DOES NOTHING TO STOP VOTER FRAUD
How does an ID validate the citizenship of an individual? How does an ID tell a poll worker whether the individual coming in to vote is a paroled felon? How will the passage of AB 63 affect absentee voting? Do absentee voters need to send in their ID with their ballots?
If the issue is to protect our system of voting, then why not strengthen what we already have in place? Increasing the number of poll workers and providing them with proper training would be a good start. Providing more personnel resources to our election commissions across the state, so that they can manage poll sites more effectively on Election Day would be another idea to examine. Upgraded technology and trained personnel in data gathering and data input would help in the processing of registration cards.
Bill AB 63 is simply wrong and counter-productive. It signals a message of defeatism to the ideals of a free and open society. Are we Americans? Dare we continue to, as the motto of New Hampshire says, “Live free or die”?
Then why are we allowing the elements of the radical Republican Right destroy our democratic society? Because we want to be safe? Because we want to control our society?
CARPENTER AND PLALE: STAND TALL TO PROTECT FREEDOM
Carpenter and Plale have no courage. They are playing to the political fear mongers in our state and thus have compromised the true meaning of an open and free nation. We stand strong as a nation when we continue with our values and principles. We have nothing to be ashamed of.
However, passing AB 63 does nothing to prevent fraud. Many Wisconsin drivers’ licenses are fraudulently made. What are we to do about this? Truth be told, if anyone wants to commit voter fraud, they’re going to do it with ID in hand.
These two Democrats in support of the bill, Carpenter and Plale, illustrate one of the main reasons why the Democratic Party is losing political ground to the Republicans -- they lack leaders with backbone. The Democrats have many elected officials unable to make a stand and fight against reactionary, radical Right-wing laws that do nothing but step on our rights and liberties.
In an interview, Carpenter stated that he was convinced to vote for the ID requirement after attending town hall meetings where the majority of people there supported the ID requirement. Well, this may be the case, however, not everyone favored going to war against England over 200 years ago either. It took leadership to make the decision to be free from English rule and it should be leadership that frees the fearful from fear today.
To be sure, times have changed from those revolutionary days to the present, but one thing still remains. A free and open society allows no one to dictate its future and its democracy. Requiring people to show ID is a form of government control over citizens that only the neo-cons in power support. How can we ask young people to go and fight to spread democracy abroad while at home we pass laws that suppress our own democratic freedoms? We must be resolved to fight at home by not allowing anyone the power and influence to have government set laws that regulate our rights and liberties -- that includes our right to vote.
Stand tall and support Governor Doyle’s veto.
Robert Miranda is a national award-winning columnist, Latino community activist and columnist for the Milwaukee Spanish Journal. rmiranda@wi.rr.com. This article originally ran at http://wisopinion.com
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