Wisconsin Official Instructs Staff Not To Mention Free IDs For Voting

[Intense]

A new twist in the WI voter ID controversy has some lawmakers and state officials crying foul. Ids are free as part of the law, but an internal memo surfaced which instructs DMV employees not to offer free IDs unless customers ask for them. Otherwise, the IDs cost $28. Critics say the $28 fee amounts to a poll tax which will discourage low-income voters from registering for an ID. Recently, a DMV employee was fired for blasting out an email encouraging his coworkers to ignore the memo and instruct all customers that the IDs are free.

(Reuters) - A Wisconsin official has discouraged state workers from volunteering information about free IDs available under a controversial voter identification law that critics complain is designed to suppress votes, a memo leaked on Wednesday showed.

The memo, provided to the press by Democratic State Senator Jon Erpenbach, was likely to fan concerns among critics of the Republican-backed law that it aimed to suppress votes of thousands of otherwise eligible Wisconsin voters.

In the memo, a top aide in the state transportation department told staffers in the motor vehicle department, which is responsible for issuing the free IDs, to "refrain from offering" them to customers who do not specifically ask for them.

"Questions on what kind of ID is needed for voting," the aide, Steven Krieser, wrote in the July 1 memo, "should be directed to the Government Accountability Board."

The voter ID law was part of a broader conservative program pushed through Wisconsin's Republican-controlled legislature earlier this year by Governor Scott Walker, who took office in January.

That program, which has divided the state along partisan lines and led to a record number of recall elections, has also included curbs on the collective bargaining rights of public workers, deep budget cuts and an easing of restrictions on the carrying of concealed weapons.

Krieser, who confirmed the authenticity of the memo, said he was simply trying to make sure DMV employees honored the intent of lawmakers who passed the law, which does not obligate DMV workers to tell applicants they are entitled to a free ID if they plan to use it to vote.

"The DMV is applying the voter ID law that the legislature provided to it," Krieser told Reuters.

"It says the customer has to request it. So we've taken the strict reading of the statute and that's how we've implemented it. That's all that the memo was getting at."

RECORDS REQUEST

Scot Ross, the head of One Wisconsin Now, a group opposed to the voter ID law, called the memo "a smoking gun" that proved the measure was designed to disenfranchise the poor, students and minorities, who are less likely to have state-issued identification and more likely to vote for Democrats.

Ross said his group would file an open records request with the Wisconsin Department of Transportation to obtain "all communications and e-mails related to the issuance of state identification cards for the purposes of voting under the state's voter identification bill."

Advocates of voter ID laws, which have also been passed this year in Texas, Alabama, Kansas, South Carolina, Tennessee and Rhode Island, say the rules are needed to combat voter fraud.

Opponents say evidence of widespread fraud is nonexistent. The Advancement Project, a national civil rights legal group, has called the laws "the largest legislative effort to scale back voting rights in a century."
cut shorter per copyright rules

Wisconsin official told DMV not to push free voter ID cards | Reuters

Actually Proper ID is a matter of personal responsibility. You might want to work on that back at the trained seal farm.

 

[Care4all]

A free ID is available, upon request. Which is as it should be.

has the law been publicized saying such and telling our citizens who do not have a government id, that they can go and get one, for free, if need be, if they ask?

As long as everyone is fully AWARE that they can get a gvt approved voter's id for free then i have no problems with it.

The Public should be fully informed of the law, and it should not be kept hidden from them.....they ARE CITIZENS for christ sake, and should not be put through hurdles to vote, in this day and age.

besides, I thought this was to stop ILLEGALS from voting, but it sure seems like it is to stop those citizens, without id....and that is simply wrong, unjust.

According to another article posted by TDM I think yesterday. An official of the DMV stated that there were temporary signs posted stating that free ID's were available. Now, whether or not that is true or how visible those signs are, I don't know.

I will see if I can find a link to the article from yesterday shortly.

Immie

PS welcome back, I for one am glad to see you hanging around here again.

it should be easy to show pictures of them...anyone there can take a digital snapshot of these 'temporary signs'

Then what is the problem with the dmv people repeating what is on the sign?!

 

[Care4all]

A free ID is available, upon request. Which is as it should be.

has the law been publicized saying such and telling our citizens who do not have a government id, that they can go and get one, for free, if need be, if they ask?

As long as everyone is fully AWARE that they can get a gvt approved voter's id for free then i have no problems with it.

The Public should be fully informed of the law, and it should not be kept hidden from them.....they ARE CITIZENS for christ sake, and should not be put through hurdles to vote, in this day and age.

besides, I thought this was to stop ILLEGALS from voting, but it sure seems like it is to stop those citizens, without id....and that is simply wrong, unjust.

According to another article posted by TDM I think yesterday. An official of the DMV stated that there were temporary signs posted stating that free ID's were available. Now, whether or not that is true or how visible those signs are, I don't know.

I will see if I can find a link to the article from yesterday shortly.

Immie

PS welcome back, I for one am glad to see you hanging around here again.

oh! and ty immie..... i had a very bad case of Pneumonia....i thought i was going to die.....that's what it felt like...it was awful!

 

[Conservative]

A free ID is available, upon request. Which is as it should be.

has the law been publicized saying such and telling our citizens who do not have a government id, that they can go and get one, for free, if need be, if they ask?

As long as everyone is fully AWARE that they can get a gvt approved voter's id for free then i have no problems with it.

The Public should be fully informed of the law, and it should not be kept hidden from them.....they ARE CITIZENS for christ sake, and should not be put through hurdles to vote, in this day and age.

besides, I thought this was to stop ILLEGALS from voting, but it sure seems like it is to stop those citizens, without id....and that is simply wrong, unjust.

According to another article posted by TDM I think yesterday. An official of the DMV stated that there were temporary signs posted stating that free ID's were available. Now, whether or not that is true or how visible those signs are, I don't know.

I will see if I can find a link to the article from yesterday shortly.

Immie

PS welcome back, I for one am glad to see you hanging around here again.

scroll up

 

[bitterlyclingin]

Just close your mouth, take a deep breath and think of that five room Ohio house that supposedly slept twenty six registered Democratic voters in it during the 2008 election. Or the two eight year old females from Bridgeport, Ct's Marina Village that ACORN registered to vote during that same election.
Barry O's whipping Project Vote into shape for this upcoming election again, the one that He's hoping will see him installed as President For Life, like his good buddy Hugo in Venezuela. Organizing For America is busily contacting all former ACORN workers asking them if they would like to join on.
Then there's that famous Chicago phenomenom where polling day seems to also be Resurrection Day, when all the residents of the City's cemetaries turn out to vote as well.
Remember the Democrat's Creed "Vote early and vote often!"

 

[Immanuel]

has the law been publicized saying such and telling our citizens who do not have a government id, that they can go and get one, for free, if need be, if they ask?

As long as everyone is fully AWARE that they can get a gvt approved voter's id for free then i have no problems with it.

The Public should be fully informed of the law, and it should not be kept hidden from them.....they ARE CITIZENS for christ sake, and should not be put through hurdles to vote, in this day and age.

besides, I thought this was to stop ILLEGALS from voting, but it sure seems like it is to stop those citizens, without id....and that is simply wrong, unjust.

According to another article posted by TDM I think yesterday. An official of the DMV stated that there were temporary signs posted stating that free ID's were available. Now, whether or not that is true or how visible those signs are, I don't know.

I will see if I can find a link to the article from yesterday shortly.

Immie

PS welcome back, I for one am glad to see you hanging around here again.

it should be easy to show pictures of them...anyone there can take a digital snapshot of these 'temporary signs'

Then what is the problem with the dmv people repeating what is on the sign?!

Have I said there was a problem with them informing people of the availability of free ID?

I happen to be supportive of the free ID idea. I think if we are going to require people to produce photo ID's in order to vote then we are required by our own laws to provide those ID's free of charge to those who cannot afford them.

Immie

 

[Truthmatters]

Good for you Immie

 

[Zander]

This is hardly surprising. It's hard for me to imagine an objective, informed individual who would fail to come to the conclusion that these types of laws are motivated in part by a desire to discourage likely Democratic voters from voting. I expect that in Wisconsin at least the laws will be reversed eventually.

I disagree. The Wisconsin DMV is simply following the law. If you want a "free" ID to vote with you must request it. There is no nefarious plot to disenfranchise voters.

 

[Article 15]

The USMB far right defending a policy that makes it more difficult to vote and lowers turnout.

Shocking.

 

[JakeStarkey]

Oddball is mumbling stupidities. An educated citizenry knowing their rights is better than the libertarian idiocracy that has developed since WWII in America.

Good heavens, post flyers up and let's get some sanity into government on this issue of free voter ID.

 

[ba1614]

This is hardly surprising. It's hard for me to imagine an objective, informed individual who would fail to come to the conclusion that these types of laws are motivated in part by a desire to discourage likely Democratic voters from voting. I expect that in Wisconsin at least the laws will be reversed eventually.

I disagree. The Wisconsin DMV is simply following the law. If you want a "free" ID to vote with you must request it. There is no nefarious plot to disenfranchise voters.

Is it any wonder America is in such dire straits with this culture of requiring Uncle Sam to hold your hand from cradle to grave, for everything?
Yes I would tell the little old lady that always gets used as the example about the free id, but I sure as fuck wouldn't be telling the healthy 30yr old with his pants on the ground.

 

[Truthmatters]

GOP Memo Admits Plan Could 'Keep Black Vote Down' - Los Angeles Times

the GOP has a LONG history of this type of action agains legal voters

 

[ba1614]

GOP Memo Admits Plan Could 'Keep Black Vote Down' - Los Angeles Times

the GOP has a LONG history of this type of action agains legal voters

Well of course it's racist too.

 

[Zander]

The USMB far right defending a policy that makes it more difficult to vote and lowers turnout.

Shocking.

It's not shocking, it's the law Art. In Wisconsin, if someone is too stupid to know that they can get a free ID at the DMV- despite the signs posted at the DMV, and the ads running on television, radio and print media- they are probably too stupid to vote.

 

[Seawytch]

Thanks to all this "controversy", everyone knows they can get 'em free...

Irony is my religion...

 

[Immanuel]

Thanks to all this "controversy", everyone knows they can get 'em free...

Irony is my religion...

Not necessarily!

The grandmother in JosefK's example probably doesn't have access to the internet or Cable either so she probably has no idea she could have an ID by now.

Immie

 

[Oddball]

took me all of 7 seconds to find this online...

Obtaining an ID card - Wisconsin Department of Transportation
Free Wisconsin ID cards for voting

A free ID card is available under Wisconsin law to anyone who:

will be at least 18 years of age on the date of the next election and;
requests an ID card for the purpose of voting.

A free ID card is NOT available under the following circumstances:

If you currently have a valid, unexpired driver license (DL), you are not eligible under Wisconsin law to obtain an ID.
If you will not be at least 18 years of age on the date of the next election.
If you already have a Wisconsin ID card that is not eligible for renewal (you may renew your ID card up to one year prior to its expiration date).
If you are not eligible to vote in Wisconsin.

So already, it's safe to say that 99+% of the people who want to vote, already have a valid and accepted ID in order to do so.

Then, at the DOT offices, you have signs that say "FREE VOTER I.D. CARDS AVAILABLE HERE".

Looks like the liberoidal bedwetters won't be happy until we have one of these assholes on every street corner:

 

[JakeStarkey]

took me all of 7 seconds to find this online...

Obtaining an ID card - Wisconsin Department of Transportation
Free Wisconsin ID cards for voting

A free ID card is available under Wisconsin law to anyone who:

will be at least 18 years of age on the date of the next election and;
requests an ID card for the purpose of voting.

A free ID card is NOT available under the following circumstances:

If you currently have a valid, unexpired driver license (DL), you are not eligible under Wisconsin law to obtain an ID.
If you will not be at least 18 years of age on the date of the next election.
If you already have a Wisconsin ID card that is not eligible for renewal (you may renew your ID card up to one year prior to its expiration date).
If you are not eligible to vote in Wisconsin.

So already, it's safe to say that 99+% of the people who want to vote, already have a valid and accepted ID in order to do so.

Then, at the DOT offices, you have signs that say "FREE VOTER I.D. CARDS AVAILABLE HERE".

Looks like the liberoidal bedwetters won't be happy until we have one of these assholes on every street corner:

That is a good likeness of you, Oddsquare.

 

[Oddball]

Wow, another fact-filled post from Fake Malarkey!

 

[Immanuel]

took me all of 7 seconds to find this online...

Obtaining an ID card - Wisconsin Department of Transportation
Free Wisconsin ID cards for voting

A free ID card is available under Wisconsin law to anyone who:

will be at least 18 years of age on the date of the next election and;
requests an ID card for the purpose of voting.

A free ID card is NOT available under the following circumstances:

If you currently have a valid, unexpired driver license (DL), you are not eligible under Wisconsin law to obtain an ID.
If you will not be at least 18 years of age on the date of the next election.
If you already have a Wisconsin ID card that is not eligible for renewal (you may renew your ID card up to one year prior to its expiration date).
If you are not eligible to vote in Wisconsin.

So already, it's safe to say that 99+% of the people who want to vote, already have a valid and accepted ID in order to do so.

Then, at the DOT offices, you have signs that say "FREE VOTER I.D. CARDS AVAILABLE HERE".

Looks like the liberoidal bedwetters won't be happy until we have one of these assholes on every street corner:

Well, you have to admit that if those signs are not noticeable or in a location that cannot be seen by the general public... say the employee break room... they are not all that effective! Would a political hack do something like that? Of course they would.

Immie