The Wisconsin Voter ID voter suppression law, is one of the worst affronts to the foundation of our Democracy in this state’s history. Why are people just accepting this abomination of a law? They don’t have to. You don’t have to.
There is a way to object to it, and show your objection at the polls. Yes, it means you will have to step out of your comfort zone, and it may even require you to make the poll workers do a little more work, and the clerks to do the hard thing, not the easy thing. It will do something else in the towns, maybe even some villages, perhaps even some cities … add to the expense of running election with the voter suppression law in placd.
I fully understand that the poll workers, clerks did not write the law….. but then we didn’t either. It is written at the hands of the Koch brothers American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). However, in their effort to avoid it to being declared unconstitutional, they put in a part that allows us to TOTALLY and LEGALLY show our objection to the law.
When you vote at your polling location…. YOU ARE NOT LEGALLY REQUIRED TO SHOW YOUR ID! I have done this at least three times now and it is completely legal and my votes counted each time. I have talked with the GAB, now WEC, more than once over this issue. The loophole in the law that allows this states: “If you do not have a photo id, or refuse to show it, you can vote by provisional ballot”. Then you must show your ID to the clerk by 4 p.m. on Friday of that week in order for your votes to count.
In my case in the Town of Reedsburg it has other consequences. The election board must reconvene, costing the town an extra $50 in election costs. Remember, this cost is because of the law, not my adherence to the law. The town chair is also my republican assemblyman, Ed Brooks, who wouldn’t listen to us and voted for this law.
I have actually been told by a village clerk in my area that if I came to vote and said I didn’t have my ID, he would convince me to go home and get it. What if I was in an accident on the way home or back and was taken to the hospital and released the next day….. he just stole my vote. However, if he had given me a provisional, I could have returned by Friday and showed my ID and my right to vote would have been honored.
I urge everyone to OBEDIENTLY AND PEACEFULLY PROTEST AT THE POLLS by refusing to show your ID, vote provisionally, return on Wed, Thur, or by 4 p.m. on Friday and show it so your vote counts. If corporations can use their money to talk, then use your vote to send two messages on election day….. oppose this law and record your votes.
William Waser
Reedsburg, WI