While this event may not be as new, I found it to be quite intriguing. This past April, a federal judge, Lynn Adelman, struck down a Wisconsin law that requires state approved photo identification in order to be able to vote. The case was initiated due to two lawsuits against officials on the behalf of residents of Wisconsin (mainly minority groups). Judge Adelman cited both the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment and the Voting Rights Act as a basis for her decision. In her decision she stated, "Blacks and Latinos in Wisconsin are disproportionately likely to live in poverty. Individuals who live in poverty are less likely to drive or participate in other activities for which a photo ID may be required (such as banking, air travel, and international travel) and so they obtain fewer benefits from possession of a photo ID than do individuals who can afford to participate in these activities." This will hurt the majority party in the state, Republican, since many of these minority voters are Democratic.
I thought that it was a well written article. The topic was fully covered, and it was nice to have direct quotes from the judge's decision within the article. I am of the opinion that photo identification should be used in all elections in order to help prevent voter fraud. However, I do see how photo identification could lead to the disenfranchisement of minority groups. I can not think of any clear cut solution to this problem at this time because any online program is liable to being hacked, documents of residency can be easily forged or stolen, and government issued papers with a photo on them would be costly and inefficient. Hopefully, a viable solution to this conundrum will appear in the future.
Huh.. This is very interesting indeed. I see the side defending minority groups and their general inability to afford/posses identification -- I've actually thought about it myself before -- but it is hard to see how voter fraud could be avoided without the identification. I wonder how they're going to solve this problem, and I also wonder whether this decision will cause other states to make the same changes to their voting laws.
ReplyDeleteI think that the ID rule does prevent many poor people from voting. Statistically, minority groups tend to be below the poverty line more often than whites. IDs cost nearly thirty dollars in Wisconsin, and the person still needs money for transportation. A person living on the $7.25 minimum wage and paying for a place to live, food, children, ect., might find it very difficult to pay that money. I feel like this is too similar to a poll tax- if you don't have the money for an ID, you can't vote.
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