UNDATED (WSAU) Wisconsin’s new voter I-D law allows people to get free I-D’s at motor vehicle offices if they need them. But the Madison Capital Times says employees have been told not to offer the I-D’s unless people specifically ask for them. To get one, you must check a box on an application form. And if you don’t, you’ll be charged $28, the cost of a driver’s license.
Critics of the voter I-D mandate told the Cap Times that the order from D-O-T executive assistant Steve Kreiser proves that his agency is more interested in getting the fee revenues, instead of removing barriers to give voters the I-D’s they’ll need come February.
Scot Ross of the liberal group One Wisconsin Now said the memo is a “smoking gun” which proves that the Republican-passed law was about denying people the right to vote. Assembly Democrat Kelda Helen Roys of Madison said people won’t get the I-D’s unless they say the quote, “magic words.” But Kreiser defends the memo, saying there’s nothing in the law that lets people use the free I-D’s for things other than voting – and the D-O-T is not required to ask applicants what they want the cards for.
Also, Kreiser says his clerks do not deceive people when they ask for the I-D’s – and they do mention the requirement to check the box on their applications. Just over 18-thousand I-D’s have been given and renewed since July first – and almost 60-percent were issued at no cost. Kreiser says it’s up to the state Government Accountability Board to let voters know about the free I-D’s, and how people can get them. The board plans a major public awareness campaign in January, a month before the first elections in which photo I-D’s will be required.
