In response to this past year’s changes to Wisconsin’s voter ID laws, Marquette will now be providing specially issued IDs specifically for the purpose of students voting.
The IDs are being distributed at Union Station in the Alumni Memorial Union during normal business hours and will include a student’s signature, two-year expiration date and date of issuance — all elements not included on the traditional Marquette student ID.
The cards are being provided because of laws put in place last spring which did not include college IDs as an acceptable form of photo ID for voting in Wisconsin. After some deliberation within the state legislature, the law was changed to allow the use of college IDs only if they included elements such as a photograph, signature, expiration date and current address, which most college IDs do not have.
Other accepted voter IDs include Wisconsin driver’s licenses or other Wisconsin government-issued IDs, military ID cards and U.S. passports.
In addition to the changes to voter ID requirements, the law also states that students must present a “Fee Payment Receipt,” which proves the student has paid tuition that semester at their college or university. This is used to verify the student’s enrollment. Marquette has also taken steps to ensure that students can obtain this information, which can be accessed through CheckMarq, said Mary Czech-Mrochinski, Marquette’s director of governmental and community affairs.
“Marquette University worked not only to create an MU Voter ID Card to comply with the new law, but also with the Bursar’s office to create an ‘Account Activity Report’ as an acceptable ‘fee payment receipt’ to assist students in the voting process,” Czech-Mrochinski said.
According to Todd Vicker, executive director of the Alumni Memorial Union and Auxiliary Services, the University felt that voter IDs needed to be provided despite not having budgeted for them in the previous year. Since the laws were passed after the approval of this year’s budget, the university had to take on extra costs to ensure that all students could vote.
“The initial costs of the cards to the university are dependent upon the number of students who decide to utilize the MU Voter ID Card as an option to vote,” Vicker said. “The university will also incur ongoing costs as new freshmen arrive on campus and then as cards expire after two years and need to be replaced.”
Vicker added that the university’s main concern was finding the easiest way possible for all students to vote.
“This is most efficient for students who wish to vote using a Marquette Voter ID which contains the required items, rather than reissuing a new Marquette Card to all students,” Vicker said.
“It was important to the Marquette administration to find an acceptable and cost-effective way to provide a Voter ID for students who did not already possess an acceptable form of ID.”
Bill Neidhardt, a junior in the College of Arts & Sciences, said while the university has done an excellent job in providing the voter IDs to students, he wishes students would not be in this position to begin with.
“I couldn’t be prouder of Marquette for sticking up for the students,” Neidhardt said. “Students deserve the same opportunities to participate in our democracy as much as any other citizen, and the new ID from the university is going to bring us closer to full enfranchisement as voters.”
In addition to the voter IDs and Account Activity Reports, Marquette will also take steps to ensure all students know what they need to vote. This will include posters and information sessions aimed at educating student voters.
“In the end, we wanted to make it as easy as possible for our students to vote,” Vicker said. “The final solution included a complete response to help register voters, educate them on their options, and to provide a compliant voter ID.”