Republican Voter Suppression Exposed Print
Commentary - Commentary
Written by Lena Taylor, State Senator, 4th District   
Sunday, 10 April 2016 11:27

voter-idMILWAUKEE - On April 5th at a Republican Election Night party, Congressman Glenn Grothman was asked why he thought Republican’s will win in the upcoming presidential election. He said, “…And now we have photo ID, and I think photo ID is going to make a little bit of a difference as well."

It didn’t surprise me that he thought voter ID would suppress enough Democratic votes to make the difference in a presidential election. But it did surprise me that he’d actually said it out loud… to a reporter… on camera.

On the same day, a former GOP Senate staff member, Todd Allbaugh, dropped a bomb on Facebook. Here’s what a man who was in the room to hear the “private” discussion about the motives behind voter ID had to say:

“You wanna know why I left the Republican Party as it exists today? Here it is; this was the last straw: I was in the closed Senate Republican Caucus when the final round of multiple Voter ID bills were being discussed. A handful of the GOP Senators were giddy about the ramifications and literally singled out the prospects of suppressing minority and college voters…”

Yup, you read it right. Behind closed doors, Republican Senator’s discussed an elaborate plan to deny people their constitutional right to vote and they were giddy about it.

lena-taylorOn the floor of the State Senate, I fought for ensuring people’s right to vote. Since 2000, there are only 10 proven cases nationally of in-person voter fraud. More people are struck by lightning than commit in-person voter fraud.

That’s why I believe voter ID laws will keep way more people from even going to the polls on Election Day than it ever catches. Several years ago Republicans figured out that people of color and college students were most likely to not have proper ID for voting.

You know what else college students and people of color have in common? They are both groups that are more likely to vote for Democrats than Republicans. Republicans didn’t believe they could win fair and square, so they had to rig the rules.

Only, this isn’t a game, this is people’s constitutional right to vote. The discriminatory voter ID law is ageist and racist, period.

See more of Todd Allbaughs story on my Facebook page.