Wis. task force has charged 20 vote fraud cases

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A Wisconsin task force has so far charged 20 people with committing some form of election fraud during the 2008 election.

According to figures released by the state Justice Department, six people have been charged with voter registration misconduct and 11 people have been charged with being a felon but still voting.

Two people were charged with double voting. Another was charged with obtaining an absentee ballot in his dead wife's name so he could fulfill her dying wish to vote for President Barack Obama

WFRV

Ran across this tidbit reading CatholicVote: Why is the Minnesota Catholic Conference opposed to a Voter ID bill?  

I've found that unless the bishop hand picks his own people, you can end up with a bunch of remnants from failed episcopacies.  Really I think it should be more like when a new coach gets on a football team.  Assistant coaches can apply for the position but they are not entitled to it. 

But the bill includes a provision making state-issued IDs free to those persons who cannot afford them. Not good enough, Conlin[MnCC] director says.

“That doesn’t address the difficulty in getting that ID for some folks. You would still have to have some sort of supporting documentation in order to get the ID,” Conlin explained. “Let’s say you’re a woman who got married and had a name change. Then you would have to have your birth certificate, your marriage license and proof of your current residence. Then you’d have to get to wherever it is that the ID is going to be issued. It would affect anyone with limited access to transportation.”

I am trying my best to be charitable, but these excuses just don’t cut it.

She claims it would disenfranchise minorities presumably because they make up a larger percentage of the poor. (Then why not just say the poor?) But even if the poor cannot afford cars, isn’t public transportation available that could take them to the DMV or the Secretary of State’s office? Do the poor have no need for a state ID except to vote? Would they not want an ID if it were free?

Frankly her example of the newly married woman is laughable. Most women get a new driver’s license when they come home from a honeymoon. It’s not like they would forget about this until Election Day. “Oh right, my last name isn’t Smith anymore! I’ve been driving around the state with my old name!”

And how exactly does this disenfranchise college students, the vast majority have state-issued IDs already? They can vote absentee if they want to claim their parent’s address or they can vote with their campus address. This bill would simply prevent them from casting multiple ballots, like the students at Marquette claimed to have done in 2000 (a “Catholic” university in Milwaukee, Wis. no less). And since Minnesota’s election laws are just as lenient as Wisconsin’s, are you telling me that this kind of voter fraud isn’t happening at the University of Minnesota?

I live in Michigan and we are required to show our ID in order to vote. This hasn’t prevented minorities, seniors or college students from voting.

Conlin called the voter ID proposal a waste of money on an unnecessary bill. “All the known prosecutions have been for convicted felons voting, and a voter ID would not indicate whether a person is a felon,” said Conlin.

Well, I guess she would wait until what happened in Wisconsin came to Minnesota before she would act. But isn’t it good to take steps to stop voter fraud before they happen?

Remember, the last senatorial election in Minnesota was permitted to be stolen yet again.