Category: State news

The latest version of a bill requiring voters to show photo identification at the polls cleared the Legislature?s budget-writing committee on Monday after undergoing more changes that Democrats said will only lead to chaos and confusion. The measure could clear the Legislature as soon as Wednesday. The version passed Monday would allow college IDs, but would not require them to include a student?s birth date or address. The expiration date would have to be no more than two years after the date the ID was issued. UW-Madison lobbyist Don Nelson said the latest version was an improvement.

The latest version of a bill requiring voters to show photo identification at the polls cleared the Legislature?s budget-writing committee on Monday after undergoing more changes that Democrats said will only lead to chaos and confusion.

The voter ID bill, which would require you to show a photo ID at the polls, passed the final hurdle to reach the full legislature.

The legislature?s Joint Finance Committee has passed an amended version of voter ID legislation. This latest voter ID bill would require individuals to be living at their current address for 28 days before voting.

This week the state Legislature will debate a controversial measure requiring voters to show a photo identification before they can cast a ballot. The legislation, which proponents say will prevent people from voting illegally, would give Wisconsin arguably the most restrictive voter identification law in the country. Proponents say combating voter fraud, no matter how rare, is a good thing. Critics say the measure is a solution without a problem. They say fears of voter fraud are overblown, and photo ID laws discourage many people from voting, especially college students, seniors, minorities and people with disabilities…Student IDs would be allowed, but would have to include a current address, birthdate, signature and expiration date. Currently no college or university ID used in the state, including UW-Madison, meets those standards.

When we should be encouraging our citizens to vote, why do some of our legislators want to restrict voting rights?…Assembly Bill 7 requires all voters to present a photo ID card, lengthens the residency requirements and makes it nearly impossible for students to use their university-issued ID cards for identification (which might require the University of Wisconsin to spend dollars it doesn?t have to create new IDs).

….Wisconsin?s bill, according to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau, would cost more than $5.7 million to implement. The measure would require voters to use a driver?s license, state ID, military ID, passport, naturalization papers or tribal ID at the polls. Student IDs would be allowed, but would have to include a current address, birthdate, signature and expiration date. Currently no college or university ID used in the state, including UW-Madison, meets those standards.

Dear Editor: In response to the Mifflin Street block party: It saddens me to see that we have raised a generation that has so little respect for themselves and people around them and the property of others. Why is it that people have to get so intoxicated and consider that to be fun?

….UW-Madison has a reputation of being ?the? place to get a great education, yet the administration and professors look the other way when their students behave in this manner. Amazing to me.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is proposing major changes to the decades-old tuition reciprocity agreement between this state and Minnesota. The agreement allows Badger State students to attend Gopher State universities at reduced rates. Walker is proposing to eliminate a state subsidy for the program after Wisconsin shelled out about $12.9 million to Minnesota under the agreement ? and got no payment in return.

Voters will be required to show photo identification at the polls under a bill approved Tuesday by an Assembly committee, despite warnings from Democrats and the state?s nonpartisan election watchdog agency. Some GOP lawmakers said they would support minor changes, including tweaks to the bill?s new provision allowing certain college IDs to be used as photo ID at the polls.

Voters will be required to show a photo ID at the polls under a bill approved by an Assembly committee Tuesday despite concerns from Democrats and the nonpartisan board that monitors Wisconsin elections that the measure was moving too quickly. To address concerns that the measure was too restrictive, Republicans on the Assembly?s election and campaign reform committee voted Tuesday to expand the list of acceptable identification to include student IDs from public and private colleges and universities. But even that proved to be problematic. As the bill currently stands, student IDs would have to include a current address, birthdate, signature and expiration date. No college or university ID used in the state, including at the 42,000-student University of Wisconsin-Madison campus, meets that criteria. Further complicating things for the Madison campus, student ID cards there are used to gain entry to residence halls and other buildings. Because of the security risk raised by placing a student?s address on the card that also works as a building key, UW-Madison opposes it, said Don Nelson, director of state relations for the campus.

Voters will be required to show a photo ID at the polls under a bill approved by an Assembly committee Tuesday despite concerns from Democrats and the nonpartisan board that monitors Wisconsin elections that the measure was moving too quickly.

Republican legislation requiring voter ID has passed a state Assembly committee on Tuesday. The Assembly Election and Campaign Reform Committee acted in the bill, with Democrats complaining that they hadn?t had a chance to look at a lengthy amendment.

Students trying to vote in Wisconsin elections may be able to use college ID cards under changes to a bill requiring voters to show identification at the polls proposed by Republicans. But some Democrats called the changes “meaningless,” saying the revised bill still threatens to keep college students from voting, is costly and risks exposing students? privacy. Earlier drafts of the legislation barred student ID cards from being used at the polls. But the latest version, which will go to a vote before an Assembly committee Tuesday morning, would allow a voter to use an identification card from accredited public or private university or college if it included a photo, date of birth, current address, an expiration date no more than four years away, and a signature. The GOP proposal privacy concerns, opponents said, noting that the UW-Madison student ID is also used as a key card for the dormitories. Anyone who found a lost card could have not only the student?s address but access to the residence hall where he or she lives.