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OPINION & EDITORIAL

Overreaction to voting audit threatens turnout at polls

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by Sarah Howard

Tuesday, October 11, 2005

When the Washington Post reported a nearly 74 percent voter-turnout rate in 2004, Wisconsin voters had reason to be proud. Second only to Minnesota in turnout, Wisconsinites demonstrated an admirable desire to influence national politics and exercise their constitutional rights.

Their participation produced a turnout 14 percent above the national rate, a real feat considering the national figures were at their highest since Richard Nixon faced Hubert Humphrey in 1968.

Experts at the Committee for the Study of the American Electorate attributed high turnout rates to divided opinions about the Bush administration and Wisconsin's status as a battleground state. With such a heated political atmosphere in the country, turnout could and should be just as high in the upcoming elections.

Unfortunately, a bill recently introduced in the state legislature could rob Wisconsin of these bragging rights and significantly reduce the number of voters who participate in its election process.

The bill, introduced by Rep. Suzanne Jeskewitz, R-Menomenee Falls, and Senator Tom Reynolds, R-West Allis, would end same-day voter registration in Wisconsin. Passing this law would double the inconvenience of the voting process for the 20 percent of Wisconsin residents who chose to register on Election Day in 2004.

It is unrealistic to expect voters to sacrifice more time or energy on the voting process. Already, half of America has shown that voting is not a high enough priority to interrupt busy daily lives.

For the other half, Election Day means leaving work, skipping lunch, arranging childcare and juggling class schedules. Voters are surprisingly willing to perform these tasks in order to get to the polls, because voting is such an isolated and extraordinary event. By passing the bill, the legislature will introduce a mandatory obstacle that will encourage many of these inconvenienced voters to neglect the polls.

With poor voter turnout embarrassing the American political system over the past three decades, what would make Ms. Jeskewitz and Mr. Reynolds introduce a bill that will inevitably drive it to new lows? Overreaction to a voting audit released in September seems to be the most likely explanation.

According the Wisconsin State Journal, the audit was conducted by the nonpartisan Legislative Audit Bureau this year. It found 3,100 voters whose names were listed multiple times on registration lists. Clearly illegitimate votes threaten the integrity of the political system, but let's keep a little perspective. When the bureau conducted the audit, the entire record included 348,000 voters. The erroneous votes constituted less than 1 percent of the state turnout.

In Madison, the registration and voting process was even cleaner. The audit found a possibility that one person may have voted twice and that one underage person may have cast a ballot. Not bad for a city of 203,211 residents, 80 percent of which reportedly voted in 2004.

While reform is necessary, it is more likely that improvements result from better training and recruitment of poll workers. The introduction of a single statewide voter registration system, now required under federal law, will also help eliminate inconsistency. Given that these reforms will substantially increase the accuracy of the voting process, it is unnecessary to inconvenience Wisconsin voters by removing this option. Especially when the likely result is losing a major portion of the state's remarkable turnout.

Passing the bill to eliminate same-day voting registration would complicate and undermine electorate resuscitation efforts in the state and throughout the rest of the country. The voting and registration process are not broken, just in need of repair. Rep. Joe Parisi, D-Madison, summed it up best: "You don't take your car to the junkyard when what it really needs is a tune-up."

Sarah Howard (smhoward@wisc.edu) is a junior majoring in political science and journalism.

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Anonymous (October 11, 2005 @ 1:14pm):

"Passing this law would double the inconvenience of the voting process for the 20 percent of Wisconsin residents who chose to register on Election Day in 2004."

If you can't plan far enough ahead of time or are not motivated enough to register to vote before election day then I don't want you voting. You have neither the skill nor interest that I think required to make an informed choice.

Anonymous (October 11, 2005 @ 1:26pm):

Since when was voting a right and not a priviledge? If you don't want to take the time to register, why should you get to waste someone else's time by doing it later and causing everyone else troubles? Responsibility for your actions is the key.

Anonymous (October 11, 2005 @ 1:47pm):

Voting has always been a right, not a "priviledge" (whatever that is).

Anonymous (October 11, 2005 @ 2:45pm):

"Since when was voting a right and not a priviledge?"

March 4, 1789

Anonymous (October 12, 2005 @ 8:39am):

I see that Ms. Howard is well on her way to passing her "Liberal Media 101" course. It seems quite transparent that she addresses the
liberal talking points while ignoring the overriding concerns regarding the integrity of the voting process; or has she forgotten the major problems that occurred during the 2004 presidential election? It seems to me that the numbers regarding the audit of the 2004 election are a little off. She cites 348,000 voters, with 3,100 duplicate registrations, while at the same time notes that Madison had 203,211 residents, 80% (160,568) of which voted in 2004. Apparently, some 46% of all votes in the 2004 Wisconsin Presidential election were cast in the city of Madison(by her reasoning). Also, did she do her research into the election scandals in the city of Milwaukee, where some thousands of same day registrations were discovered to list non-existant addresses? Shame on Ms. Howard for such a transparent piece of Liberal bias-does she have an intern job with Governor "Diamond Jim" Doyle, who has repeatedly vetoed photo ID legislation that was passed with the intent of cleaning up the apparent fraud in the system? You can have same day registration WITH the photo ID requirement, which would enable poll workers to actually document some sort of link between who a person claims to be, and who that person actually is.

Anonymous (October 12, 2005 @ 10:20am):

If voting isn't a rght than we don't have much of a democracy. It has not been shown that requiring an ID would have has any effect on fraud. What is really funny is that there have has been plenty of studies and committees showing things that could be done but all republicans can come up with, over and over, is voter ID.

roger kroth (October 12, 2005 @ 5:07pm):

another thoughtful op/ed piece.
Wisc and Minn should be proud of your contibutions to our political legacy. Strong independent thinkers seem to be the mean. Maybe it is the harsh winters and time to sit around the stove that leads to good conversation.
If it ain't broke don't fix it.