The Dane County Board passed a resolution Thursday night to urge the University of Wisconsin to change Wiscards into valid forms of voter ID.
Under current law, out-of-state drivers licenses and current student IDs are not valid forms of voter ID. For the 14,000 out-of -state students at UW, this means they must obtain a separate ID card solely for the purpose of voting.
Several students spoke in favor of the resolution at Thurdsday’s meeting, including Angelito Tenorio, a UW sophomore.
“Having to go get another ID is just another roadblock that will deter students from voting,” Tenorio said.
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Madison College, Edgewood College, UW-Green Bay and UW-Superior are some Wisconsin schools that now allow student ID cards to function as identification, Madison Laning, Chair of Associates Students of Madison, said.
But the cost of altering Wiscards to meet voter ID laws would not be insignificant. An ID card costs about eleven cents to produce at the other UW schools, whereas the UW-Madison card costs between $3 and $20, excluding the price of staff and printing to produce the card. This cost difference is due to the fact that Wiscards are equipped with security access, library access and payment ability, Nancy Lynch, UW-Madison assistant vicechancellor for legal affairs, said.
If UW-Madison chooses to make Wiscards into valid forms of voter ID, the process would cost more than $2 million over a period of five years. The process would include adding a signature and an extended expiration date to all IDs, Lynch said.
County Supervisor Dave deFilice, District 16, acknowledged the cost but urged the resolution to pass anyway.
“As a university, you are invested in the students, and these are the people you produce,” deFilice said. “We should be encouraging students to participate, not putting things in their way. Look at is as an investment.”
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Without voter ID, many students, especially freshman, will end up voting provisionally, which takes almost 15 minutes per voter, County Clerk Scott McDonell, said. Provisional voting is done when there are uncertainties about the voter’s eligibility.
The city lacks the physical capacity for such a substantial number of students to take that much time at the polls, and will ultimately disenfranchise many more voters, McDonell said.
To combat the predicted decrease in student turnout at the polls, UW-Madison is taking measures to help out-of-state students vote.
In the future, each out-of-state student will be asked if they would like a voter ID card at SOAR when receiving a Wiscard. There is an additional voter compliance letter necessary for voting when using a voter ID, which is available at the student portal and can be displayed electronically, Lynch said.
“We very much want every student to vote, and [we] do a lot to encourage students,” Lynch said.
More information about student voting is available at voter.wisc.edu.
