An investigation into potentially invalid votes in Milwaukee during the Nov. 2 general election has fed a debate in the Wisconsin legislature about requiring photo identification at the polls in the future.
A Journal Sentinel investigation released in January found about 7,000 unaccounted for votes in Milwaukee, 1,200 of which had invalid addresses.
Some of the election's flaws include inadequate poll worker training, insufficient staffing and the lack of funding to buy computer networks, according to Bob Bauman, alderman of the 4th district, which includes Marquette. The average age of poll workers in Milwaukee is 75, and some were working for 15 hours straight, according to Bauman.
"In that situation clerical mistakes are inevitable," he said.
The number of discrepancies at the Alumni Memorial Union was the fourth-highest of any poll station in the city, according to the Journal Sentinel.
Three different investigations are looking into the election: a task force appointed by Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, a statewide review by the State Audit Bureau and an investigative probe by Milwaukee County District Attorney E. Michael McCann and U.S. Attorney Steve Biskupic, with the FBI and the Milwaukee Police Department.
The State Assembly's Committee on Campaigns and Elections is scheduled to vote Wednesday on a bill that proposes requiring all residents to show a Wisconsin driver's license to vote, according to Rachel Roller, the chief of staff for Sen. Lena Taylor (D-Milwaukee). The committee held a hearing on it Thursday.
The bill also requires people who vote by absentee ballot to send a copy of their photo ID, according to Sen. Joe Leibham (R-Sheboygan). A similar bill was vetoed by Doyle in 2003.
The process will help streamline what is acceptable as proof of residency, said Michael Pyritz, legislative assistant to Rep. Jeff Stone (R-Greendale), one of the authors of the bill.
"The main purpose of the bill is to make sure that the information that the poll workers are getting is accurate," Pyritz said.
The Wisconsin Department of Transportation has estimated that only 20 percent of eligible voters who do not have a driver's license would get one in order to vote.
"That means that roughly 100,000 Wisconsin residents currently without DOT-issued photo identification — many of them elderly, low-income, minority, homeless or handicapped — would be disenfranchised by this bill," Taylor said.
But Pyritz said the bill is not a way to disenfranchise people. There are provisions for those who have been voting by absentee ballot so they can continue to vote that way without needing an ID, and the proponents of the bill are looking at ways to get non-driving IDs to people, he said.
Under the new requirement, people with out-of-state licenses would have to get a Wisconsin license, he said.
Bauman said the bill would add an obstacle to voting. The proposed ID requirement would be an issue for Marquette students who have IDs from Illinois, he said.
The licenses would cost nothing for transfers and those who can't afford them, according to Pyritz.
Matt Dixon of the Tribune staff contributed to this report.
This article appeared in The Marquette Tribune on Feb. 8 2005.