Independent Student Newspaper Since 1969

The Badger Herald

Independent Student Newspaper Since 1969

The Badger Herald

Independent Student Newspaper Since 1969

The Badger Herald

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Block on voter ID law laudable

On Tuesday, Dane County Circuit Judge David Flanagan temporarily blocked new legislation
requiring a form of state-issued photo identification to vote in Wisconsin. Proponents of the bill are
certain to appeal the ruling, but the law will not be in effect for the April primaries and local elections.

Critics of the legislation, like the American Civil Liberties Union, have charged it disproportionately affects already disadvantaged groups
such as minorities, the elderly, students and the homeless, according to their website. Many voters in Wisconsin already have a
Wisconsin driver’s license – the most common form of photo identification – but many others do not.
Individuals should not have to get a driver’s license or other state-issued ID in order to vote.

Last February, when throngs of people gathered at the Capitol to protest Gov. Scott Walker’s
budget plan, it was not uncommon to hear chants of “This is what democracy looks like,” implying
Walker’s plan is anti-democratic. There were, of course, some who took a more direct route in accusing
Walker of being anti-democratic, via signs comparing him to the likes of Hitler.

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Whatever one thinks of Walker’s controversial and largely unpopular (in Madison, anyway) plan, I’m not
sure that it was exactly anti-democratic. After all, he had only just been elected to office, and this is the
game we play in a representative democracy. Elected officials make policy choices for all of us.

The new voter ID legislation, in contrast, blatantly undermines our conception of democracy. In the
absence of direct democracy, the right to vote is among the most essential to ensure equality. This
legislation belligerently disenfranchises already poorly represented groups for political gain.

There already exist large groups of people in Wisconsin who are ineligible to vote. Of the roughly 5.7
million people in Wisconsin, it is estimated by the Government Accountability Board that only 4.4 million are eligible to vote, and only 3.5 million
are actually registered to vote
. This leaves about 23 percent of the population ineligible to vote and about
another 16 percent of the population that is not registered to vote.

Many of those who are ineligible to vote may be so for valid reasons. For instance, young children
cannot be trusted to educate themselves about the issues and form their own opinions; most often
they would simply be used as political pawns by their parents. Others may be perfectly legally
disenfranchised, but the justification for their disenfranchisement may be questionable.

We take it for granted that individuals should not be able to vote until they are 18 years of age, but
why? Why should precocious high school-aged individuals not be given the chance to vote? There may
be very good reasons to continue prohibiting teenagers from voting, but there are other disenfranchised
groups whose rights definitely deserve more serious consideration.

There are over 21,000 prisoners in the state of Wisconsin, none of whom can vote. Once released from
prison, felons still may not vote until they have completed their parole and probation. Immigrants who
are not American citizens are also ineligible to vote. It is not at all clear to me why a foreigner who
moves to Wisconsin and sets up a permanent home here should be barred from voting in state elections
when people like me can move here from Pennsylvania and vote less than two months later.

The most egregious consequence of this legislation is that, if it wins appeal, it will further damage the
opportunities and prospects of the already worst-off: the homeless. Undoubtedly, it is already very difficult for homeless individuals to register to vote, or for that matter even care about politics, when
they have much more pressing needs to be met. This legislation would only augment these difficulties.
It is yet another hoop through which they’d have to have to jump.

We as a society should be working to enhance, not diminish, the prospects of the least-advantaged
among us. As it is, the homeless community has very little political power. They are a pretty small
group. According to Never Homeless and Porchlight, they number only about 5,000 between Milwaukee and Madison combined, so politicians have
very little reason to work for their votes. Additionally, they obviously have no resources to spare for
political contributions, so politicians of our era naturally will have no motivation to push for policies to
help them.

Judge Flanagan’s decision to block the new voter ID legislation is a good thing for Wisconsin, even if
the injunction is only temporary. The benefits of this law in preventing voter fraud are outweighed by
the costs of further consolidating political power in the hands of those who already have it. Instead
of seeking to further inhibit those who are less advantaged by disenfranchising them, we should be
discussing how to incorporate more citizens in order to form a more robust democracy.

Ryan Plesh ([email protected]) is a senior majoring in philosophy and physics.

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