Real 'voter fraud' problem for GOP: Too many black people vote in Milwaukee

Community op ed columnist Janice Eisen, writing in the Journal Sentinel, says neither Rs nor Ds have been honest about the issue of photo ID for voters:

Why is neither party telling the truth about the motives behind its position? Republicans claim they want to protect the state against voter fraud. Democrats claim they are defending the voting rights of the elderly. In fact, this matter is one of naked political maneuvering...

Neither side wants to talk about the group that's really likely to be most affected by the law: the poor, particularly the inner city (mostly black) poor. The people in this group don't vote much, but when they do get to the polls, they vote overwhelmingly for Democrats. The more obstacles you put in their way - advance registration, the need to acquire a photo ID - the less likely it is that they'll manage to vote.

Most Wisconsinites probably feel - whether or not they'd admit it - that the fewer poor black people who vote the better. If Democrats acknowledge that they're trying to help the urban poor to vote, they lose the argument. Everyone likes the elderly though.

Republicans won't admit that they're trying to reduce the number of votes from the urban poor because, even in today's conservative environment, most people outside the GOP machinery still consider it shameful to try to suppress voter turnout among a particular group. If the Republicans frame the debate that way, they lose. Demagoguery about fraud works better.

State Republicans are making a blatant attempt to enshrine in law - and now the state constitution - a power grab that will reduce voting by an already marginalized group of people. Doyle and the Democrats are doing no one any favors by allowing them to pretend otherwise.

That's a fair analysis. I would argue, however, that while she is correct that the governor has more often used the elderly as an example of who would be disenfranchised, that many Democrats, including yours truly, have been quite straightforward about what's at stake.

A study by the UW-Milwaukee Employment and Training Institute made it clear who would be hardest hit by photo ID requirements. The study found:

Among black males between ages 18 and 24, 78% lacked a driver's license, the largest percentage of any demographic in the study. Other groups in which a majority lacked a driver's license were black males of any age (55% lack a license); Hispanic women of any age (59%); and black women, Hispanic men and Hispanic women between ages 18 and 24 (all between 57% and 66%).

By contrast, only 17% of white men and white women of voting age in Wisconsin lack a driver's license.

This is all about trying to suppress the vote in the city of Milwaukee. The GOP's real concern is that too many black people vote in Milwaukee, and they vote for Democrats.

Scott Walker, the county exec, isn't even satisfied with a photo ID requirement. He reiterated his "reform" plan to get ride of "fraud" this week. It includes ending election day voter registration and outlawing absentee ballots unless you sign an affidavit that it is impossible for you to vote in person. Those provisions, too, would give Republicans an advantage.

Rep. Mark Green, dueling with Walker for the GOP gov nomination, isn't any better. He says, in his newsletter this week: If I am elected governor, the very first bill I sign will be one that restores faith to our electoral system…and 2006 will be the last time you don’t have to show an ID to vote.”

State Sen. Spencer Coggs, D-Milwaukee, put his finger on another likely outcome of requiring voters to show ID every time they vote. Unless the election system is totally revamped and staffing doubled or tripled, what will double and triple are the length of the lines and the wait at polling places. At some Milwaukee sites, people waited for hours last November.

The more barriers you erect, the more paperwork you require, the harder you make it to register or vote absentee, the longer the lines grow, the more people will weigh whether it is really worth the hassle and time it will require to exercise the fundamental right to vote.

If we really believe in democracy, the goal should be to maximize the number of people who vote, not just in Republican suburbs, but in the Democratic urban areas, too.

Janice Eisen is right. For all of the phony "fraud" claims, in the final analysis this is all about who votes. If Republicans manage to make it harder and harder to vote -- the Walker plan -- they will eventually steal a close election they would have lost if turnout had not been suppressed. That would truly be election fraud.

UPDATE: This quote today from Wisconsin GOP Chairman Rick Graber says it all, although I'm sure he didn't intend the irony: "One instance of voter fraud is the disenfranchisement of another honest person’s vote. " Precisely.