WI: Sat.'s Doomsday passed, other doomsdays loom

The predictions of a May 21 apocalypse have come and gone, but in Wisconsin, we'll see some doomsdays of our own in the coming days.

Wednesday will be doomsday for true democracy.  The Voter ID (suppression) bill, one that will require photo IDs and new residency requirements, will be signed into law that day, a law Walker hails as a measure that "will go a long way to eliminate the threat of voter fraud," despite virtually no evidence that such fraud is even committed. 

Will it stop people from voting?  Ask Senator Taylor of Milwaukee (her impassioned speech is here).  Ask the thousands upon thousands of Wisconsinites (some estimates say 20% of state voters don't currently have the required ID) , especially minorities, the elderly, those in rural areas, and the poor, who don't have photo ID , or won't be able or likely to obtain one (read a previous post here).  Ask my 78 year old mom, who doesn't anticipate renewing her drivers licence in a few years and joked with a stinging bit of truth, "I'll have to make sure I get my photo ID, though, so I can vote."  Or talk to my disabled and virtually housebound friend if he's even going to be able to stand in line at the DMV to get his.

Doomsday comes Monday for the integrity of state agencies.  Walker will be signing into law a vast increase in the powers of Governor (which Democrats called a power grab), in which the Governor can make rules for state agencies.  The law will strip such powers from agencies including the Department of Public Instruction and the state Department of Justice, which will, among other things, reduce the effectiveness of the Government Accountability Board (which oversees government ethics and elections).  Elected State Superintendent of Schools Tony Evers wonders if it's even Constitutional (to which I'm certain Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) would state, as he's had to do to a plethora of recent underhanded Republican actions, that it is).

And doomsday for statewide safe drinking water will be Monday, too, when Walker officially repeals the requirement that communities disinfect their drinking water (although most still will).  Despite evidence showing the desirability of such a requirement, Rep. Eric Severson (R-Star Prairie) asked "Why don't you want these communities to make their own choice on this?"

So maybe doomsday wasn't Saturday, May 21.  For a lot of things in Wisconsin, the doomsday prediction wasn't far off.

And, unfortunately, there looks to be a lot more of them in our near future.

Walker photo from minnpost

Sen. Taylor's incredible speech on WI's voter ID/suppression bill

Senator Lena Taylor (D-Milw) gave a speech for the ages on the Senate floor today regarding that which the Republicans passed as Voter ID.  Taylor hearkened back to Wisconsin laws barring voting supression as far back as 1849, and her very emphatic points include a passion and a real grasp for the truth behind this heinous Republican bill: to disinfranchise voters, especially minorities and the poor  (read an earlier post here). 

Republicans set an unbelievable and unconscionable one-hour limit for debate on the issue.   They were also met with cries from the public of "Shame! Shame! Shame!" as they left the chamber, something, quite sadly,  they must be getting incredibly used to by now.  Eight Democrats refused to vote, and that bastion of democracy, Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau), reassured the people of Wisconsin that he was "confident the photo ID requirement was constitutional," something he, too, has gotten incredibly used to saying as of late in defending the underhanded politcs of his party (check out today's proceedings in the full  JS Online article by Patrick Marley).

And many thanks to Stacy B. who tipped me off on "another mind-blowing speech by Lena Taylor."

Voter ID: Republicans 1, Democracy 0

Couched in the guise of preventing "rampant" voter fraud, Wisconsin's Republican Assembly approved the voter ID bill late Wednesday night, making it just an inevitable skip through the Senate and on to Walker to bring this further attempt at Republican-fueled, apparent world-domination into law.

It's not necessary and it's not a good idea for the voters of the state.  Republicans know this.  This is a calculated move to make a variety of voters--college students, the elderly, minorities, heck, anyone most likely to vote Democrat--less likely to vote.  According to research presented to the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board earlier this year, "ethnic and racial minorities, high school and college students, senior citizens and disabled, women, and those with low incomes" are more likely not to possess state-issued, photo identification.

A UWM study from 2005 found about 23% of those Wisconsin residents age 65 and older, don't have a state photo ID (177,399 people).  Nor do approximately 100,000 Wisconsinites from age 34-65.  That's a lot of people left out in the cold.

College students could use a college ID, if it had their current address on it, which no UW system school presently provides.

When you bring minorities into the equation, voter ID seems downright racist.  According to the same UWM study, Milwaukee County had only 47% of African American adults and 43% of Hispanic adults with valid drivers' licenses.  The rest of the state came in at 85%.

Even in Indiana, where folks claim voter ID is working, those without ID are more likely to be Democrats that Republicans due to accessibility, familiarity and comfort with bureaucratic red tape, fewer resources, and less knowledge of political processes.

And the fraud won't even be prevented.  It's thought that such a measure would prevent people from voting as someone else, but not one of the 20 voter fraud cases from Milwaukee County in 2008 were even of that variety.

Oh, yeah, and it'll cost in the vicinity of five million dollars, likely with additional costs per year.

So what does it sound like: a really necessary idea advanced for the good of the people, or more of the same self-serving legislation advanced for the good of the Republicans?

As echoed through the Assembly chamber to protest this bill on Wednesday afternoon, "Shame, shame, shame!"

For a visual take on this deplorable issue check out this Phil Hands cartoon of the Wisconsin State Journal.