BACKSTORY - Larson Report - October 13, 2011

Maintaining Rights of Senior Voters
I am signing on in support of legislation that would protect the voting rights of Wisconsin's senior citizens. LRB 2992/2, would exempt registered voters who are 65 years of age and older from being required to show a current government-issued ID in order to vote.

This past May, Scott Walker and Republican legislators passed one of the most restrictive ID requirements on voters in the country. Many legislative offices, including mine, have been receiving calls from elderly neighbors sharing their difficulty in obtaining a state-issued ID card. These senior citizens often have not had driver’s licenses for years. When trying to obtain a state ID at the DMV office, some of these seniors have been refused due to changing their name from what is on their birth certificate, or lacking ready access to birth records.

This bill would resolve this issue for the many seniors who have voted for years, but may have barriers to do so in the future due to circumstances beyond their control. Under LRB 2992/2, the current statewide voter registration list, which already keeps voter birth date information, would be adapted to indicate all individuals over the age of 65 and mark them as exempt from the having to follow the new ID requirement recently places on Wisconsin's voters.

To view a copy of this bill, please CLICK HERE.