In the U.S. District Court's Frank vs/ Walker decision there were many findings of fact that pointed to there being a great harm that would come to Wisconsin as a result of the Wisconsin Voter ID law.
In 2011 I attended a class given by the then Government Accountability Board Wisconsin's voter and elections watchdog to see what Wisconsin's Act 23 would mean for me. I was sitting between a Librarian and a retired Medical Doctor. we sat through the whole three hour presentation. When this presentation was finished We looked to each other and conclude that this was nothing other than voter suppression.
Case 2:12-cv-00185-LA Filed 04/29/14 Page 23 of 90 Document 127
Based primarily on the testimony of plaintiff’s expert, Leland Beatty, a statistical marketing consultant with extensive experience in business and politics, I find that approximately 300,000 registered voters in Wisconsin, roughly 9% of all registered voters, lack a qualifying ID. (In Appendix A, I discuss in detail how I arrived at this figure.) To put this number in context, in 2010 the race for governor in Wisconsin was decided by 124,638 votes, and the race for United States Senator was decided by 105,041 votes. See LULAC Ex. 2 ¶ 10 & Table 2. Thus, the number of registered voters who lack a qualifying ID is large enough to change the outcome of Wisconsin elections.
In addition to these registered voters without an ID, there are a number of persons who are eligible to vote but not yet registered who lack an ID. Because Wisconsin permits same-day registration at the polls, any eligible voter may become a registered voter on election day. One of the plaintiffs’ expert witnesses, Matthew Barreto, a professor at the University of Washington and an expert on voting behavior, survey methods and statistical analysis, conducted a telephonic survey of eligible voters in Milwaukee County. Professor Barreto found that there were 63,085 eligible voters in Milwaukee County alone who lack a qualifying ID. (In Appendix B, I discuss Professor Barreto’s conclusions in more detail.)
Voter ID really does keep many citizens from voting and this is a reason why voting against the Voter ID amendment is a good for our Democracy. Any Citizen that wants to vote should not be impeded by their possessing a card that is so hard to come by.