In the News

MILWAUKEE, Wis. -- Wisconsin's controversial new voter identification law will be in the national spotlight this weekend.

The "Own Your Vote" march and rally will take place Saturday in Milwaukee, and it will be linked to the commemoration of a famous voting rights march that happened more than 40 years ago.

 

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. led a voting rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Ala., 47 years ago this month. Shortly after that, President Lyndon Johnson passed the Voting Rights Act, which allowed African-Americans to vote freely.

 

This weekend, history will repeat itself when the Rev. Al Sharpton leads a five-day march in Alabama.

 

During voting in Wisconsin's spring primary on Feb. 21, some complained that the state's new voter photo identification law suppresses the vote of African-Americans, Hispanics and senior citizens.

 

U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore said the Selma march will once again highlight voter suppression.

 

"Our voting rights are being savaged in this country, and I would hope that every American, whether Democrat, Republican or independent, would stand up for the basic right to vote in this country. It's what democracy is all about," Moore said.

 

However, Republican state Rep. Jeff Stone, of Greendale, who sponsored the legislation, said the law does not trample on anyone's rights and continued to defend it.

"It's already been enforced in other places, and interestingly there's never been this kind of protest or work against this type of process, so I think it's really much more of a political effort than it is about any type of voter right issue," Stone said.

 

Marquette political science major John Heflin is a volunteer for "Own Your Vote," which will take place in Milwaukee this weekend to coincide with the Alabama march. He said it's all about helping voters make the adjustment, no matter which side they're on.

 

"We also want to make sure that everyone that wants to vote, that's eligible to vote, to get out there and vote with very little hassle," Heflin said.

WISN 12 News spoke with the Milwaukee Election Commission office on Thursday. A representative said that during the Wisconsin primary election, there were some minor glitches with the new voter identification law, but overall, it wasn't much of a hindrance to voters. A bigger test will come with the spring election in April.

 

The new law requires voters to show a driver's license or state, military or student identification when casting their ballots.

 

Thirty-one states have some kind of voter identification law, including 15 states that require voters to show photo identification at the polls.