Wisconsin Voter ID Law Survives Supreme Court

Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the ACLU’s challenge to Wisconsin’s voter ID laws, clearing the way for the state to implement the regulations. While the next Wisconsin elections will be held on April 7, state officials assured voters that they would not require ID this time around.

“Absentee ballots are already in the hands of voters,” said Attorney General Brad Schimel. “Therefore, the law cannot be implemented for the April 7 election. The voter ID law will be in place for future elections – this decision is final.”

Critics, including the ACLU, have said that the Wisconsin laws are among the strictest in the country. These laws, which require that voters show a current or recently expired driver’s license, a military ID, a tribal ID, or some other form of identification, supposedly keep minorities from casting a ballot.

“Our elections should always be free, fair, and accessible to all citizens,” said Penda Hair of the civil rights group Advancement Project. She and others say that requiring ID at the voting booth unfairly targets Hispanic and black voters.

Unfortunately, by refusing to take up the case, the Supreme Court is merely prolonging the inevitable. At some point, it seems clear we’ll need a landmark decision on voter ID laws. They are challenged by liberals wherever they are enacted, and the reasoning is always the same. These laws are unfair. They are bigoted. They hearken back to the days of Jim Crow. It’s time for these arguments to see the light of the nation’s highest court so they can be exposed for the silliness that they are.

Protecting the Vote

There is nothing legally preventing a black voter from procuring identification. That liberals think it’s somehow prohibitively difficult for minorities to get IDs shows how little they think of those they claim to support. To listen to them, you would think any American with dark skin was mentally handicapped. Children, unable to accomplish even the simplest things. Perhaps if minorities are that deficient, it’s best they don’t vote.

Of course, blacks and Hispanics are as capable of getting an ID as any white person. They may choose not to for whatever reason, and that’s fine. No one is going to round them up and throw them in prison. We just have to make sure that our elections are fair and as free of fraud as possible. That doesn’t seem like an unreasonable desire, but it certainly riles up the Democrats. Why might that be?

Last week, President Obama floated the idea of making voting mandatory. Wouldn’t liberals love that! Not only would those evil Republicans be thwarted on voter IDs, they would have to sit back and watch everyone vote. Everyone including the illegal aliens made legal by Obama’s executive action. Go ahead and throw a voter ID registration on top of the work permits and the Social Security numbers. Why not?

It’s only the integrity of our democracy, after all. No biggie.