Wisconsin is not alone among states passing voting reform laws and according to a new report by the Advancement Project, such laws have a disproportionate impact on Latino voters.
The Advancement Project, a civil rights group, found that about 10 million Latino voters nationwide might be affected in the 2012 elections by the “voting restrictions” in 23 different states.
Each states’ laws are structured differently, but the report categorized the three types as voter ID laws, “purges” of voter rolls and citizenship proof when registering to vote.
The group says the laws impact Latino voters, who in 2010, made up approximately 10 percent of eligible voters in the U.S., Advancement Project Co-Director Judith Browne Dianis said in a statement announcing the report.
“The pattern is unmistakable,” Browne Dianis said. “State after state has moved to obstruct the ability of millions of Latino citizens to participate in our democracy.”
The alleged purges are taking place in 16 states, requiring proof of citizenship for registration takes place in three states and voter ID laws have been passed in nine states. Some states have a combination of policies, but Wisconsin only has the voter ID law, which was passed last year under Gov. Scott Walker and a Republican-controlled Legislature.
The report said nationwide, 16 percent of Latinos do not have a valid ID while six percent of non-Hispanic Caucasians do.
Wisconsin’s law has been halted by two permanent injunctions by circuit courts, although decisions regarding Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen’s appeals are yet to come. The law also faces two lawsuits at the federal level, one of which the Advancement Project is involved in.
Rep. Dean Kaufert, R-Neenah, said Latinos face the same “impediments” as anybody else who needs an ID, describing it as a process that is not “too difficult” and also free.
He said he heard a theme among legislators who supported the law that constituents told them they were in favor of the law. He said those constituents are frequently asked for IDs to rent movies, check out a book at the library and various other normal activities.
“Clearly, there is a group of people out there who believe [Wisconsin’s law] disenfranchises voters,” Kaufert said. “But what many, many legislators will tell you is they do meetings in their districts, and they talk to their constituents, [and although support for] many things we vote on are fifty-fifty, support for voter ID seems to be overwhelming.”
The law also had some exceptions, Kaufert added, such as adding on the list of valid identification student or military IDs, as well as exempting those who live in assisted living facilities.
Republican legislators often oversimplify the process of getting an acceptable ID, Voces de la Frontera spokesperson Joe Shansky said. Voces filed suit in one of the cases in state courts.
“Anyone who looks into it realizes that it’s not as easy as the people who are pushing these laws are making it out to be,” Shansky said. “It’s a pretty clear-cut agenda to suppress voters, and I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the people most affected by them are Democrats.”
