{"id":27238,"date":"2017-11-16T19:39:59","date_gmt":"2017-11-17T00:39:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/?p=27238"},"modified":"2017-11-16T19:39:59","modified_gmt":"2017-11-17T00:39:59","slug":"voter-identification-laws-set-off-alarm-bells-for-on-the-issues-speakers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/2017\/11\/voter-identification-laws-set-off-alarm-bells-for-on-the-issues-speakers\/","title":{"rendered":"Voter Identification Laws Set Off Alarm Bells for “On the Issues” Speakers"},"content":{"rendered":"

A cycle in which expansion of the right to vote is followed by efforts to suppress voting can be traced back to the 18th<\/span>\u00a0and 19th<\/span>\u00a0centuries, according to Professor\u00a0Atiba\u00a0Ellis. And the cycle continues now in ways that are keeping many people from voting and making\u00a0voting\u00a0much harder for others.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe seem to be repeating the same pattern\u00a0over and over again,\u201d Ellis said at an \u201cOn the Issues with Mike\u00a0Gousha\u201d program Thursday in the\u00a0Lubar\u00a0Center of Marquette Law School. Ellis, the\u00a0Boden Visiting Professor\u00a0at\u00a0Marquette Law School\u00a0this fall,\u00a0is\u00a0a professor at the West Virginia University College of Law\u00a0who has made study of voting rights a focus of his scholarship.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Joining Ellis in the program was Molly McGrath of\u00a0the\u00a0American Civil Liberties Union Voting Rights Project, who called the current surge of laws\u00a0requiring such things as presentation\u00a0of photo identification\u00a0in order to\u00a0vote\u00a0\u201cincredibly alarming.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

McGrath agreed that in opinion polls, including the Marquette\u00a0Law School Poll, requiring people to show photo identification is popular.\u00a0\u201cThe idea does\u00a0sound innocuous on its face,\u201d she said.\u00a0 But its effect\u00a0in reality is\u00a0to keep qualified people from voting or to make it\u00a0difficult\u00a0for them to vote.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

She said, \u201cVoter ID is a solution in search of this non-existent problem.\u201d Cases of people trying to vote using a false identity are \u201cso exceedingly rare,\u201d she said.\u00a0She cited a study that found\u00a0that from 2000 to 2014, there were about 30 cases of questionable and possibly criminal voting out of a billion votes cast nationwide.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ellis said that requirements to present identification\u00a0carry \u201cindirect costs\u201d that fall disproportionately on low-income people and people with limited ways to obtain the needed proof. Those\u00a0costs\u00a0can include difficulty in getting birth certificates or proof of residency, the need to take time\u00a0off of\u00a0work to deal with\u00a0getting the\u00a0needed documents and ID cards,\u00a0and difficulty\u00a0with transportation.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

McGrath said that in Wisconsin, it was clear in 2016 that employees of Department of Motor Vehicles\u00a0offices statewide\u00a0where identification cards could be obtained were often giving\u00a0wrong information\u00a0to people that made obtaining the cards difficult.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ellis said that dozens of studies have\u00a0found that voter identification laws have\u00a0at least some impact on reducing the number of people who vote.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Asked by\u00a0Gousha, the Law School\u2019s distinguished fellow in law and public policy, about President Trump\u2019s claims that he won the popular vote for president in 2016 if illegal votes\u00a0weren\u2019t\u00a0counted, both Ellis and McGrath said there was no evidence\u00a0of that.\u00a0Ellis said that what you believe about voter\u00a0fraud shapes your attitude toward voter identification laws. People\u2019s\u00a0opinions are shaped by \u201ca partisan feedback loop,\u201d he said, and both Democrats and Republicans are \u201cweaponizing\u201d issues around voting.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

McGrath said\u00a0voting\u00a0should\u00a0be\u00a0a nonpartisan\u00a0issue that\u00a0focuses\u00a0on\u00a0allowing all people who meet the requirements to cast ballots.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

McGrath, a\u00a0lawyer and a\u00a0nat\u00efve\u00a0of Wisconsin Rapids, said she continues\u00a0her commitment of more than a decade\u00a0to fighting against\u00a0interference with\u00a0voting. \u201cMy address is wherever the worst voting laws are,\u201d she said. That means she has spent a lot of time recently in Kansas.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Video of the one-hour program may be viewed by clicking here.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A cycle in which expansion of the right to vote is followed by efforts to suppress voting can be traced back to the 18th\u00a0and 19th\u00a0centuries, according to Professor\u00a0Atiba\u00a0Ellis. And the cycle continues now in ways that are keeping many people from voting and making\u00a0voting\u00a0much harder for others.\u00a0 \u201cWe seem to be repeating the same pattern\u00a0over 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