The Glorious End Of User Names And Passwords

[Nagishkaw 510]

Assembly approves voter ID, sends bill to Senate

Madison — The Assembly late Wednesday approved requiring people to show photo ID at the polls, putting the measure on a fast track to becoming law. The Senate is expected to sign off on the plan Tuesday.

The move comes when drivers are about to have to present more documentation to get their licenses and wait longer to get them.

The Assembly passed the bill 60-35 amid shouts from a small group of protesters in the viewing gallery.

"Welcome to Wisconsin, Jim Crow!" one of them shouted. The Republican-run Assembly quickly adjourned as the protesters chanted "Shame!" and were led out of the gallery by police officers.

Democrats Peggy Krusick of Milwaukee and Tony Staskunas of West Allis joined all Republicans in approving the bill.

In a change that's separate from the photo ID legislation, drivers will soon have to present more documents proving their identity to get licenses under a federal anti-terrorism law. And instead of receiving their licenses when they visit a Division of Motor Vehicles office, they will get them a week to 10 days later in the mail.

Gov. Scott Walker is a longtime supporter of requiring photo ID to vote. His fellow Republicans have pushed the idea for a decade but have been blocked by Democrats.

Rep. Louis Molepske Jr. (D-Stevens Point) said he was frustrated by the combination of requiring people to show ID to vote and longer lines at the DMV.

"The big picture is that no one likes waiting in line at the DMV," he said. "I think people will not be happy with the hassles."

He and other Democrats said they were concerned tighter federal regulations on licenses would force the state to close DMV offices, thus making it harder to get IDs for voting.

But Rep. Jeff Stone (R-Greendale), author of the photo ID measure, said he did not see a problem because those who want to drive will have to get their licenses whether or not there is a photo ID requirement for voting. People who do not need licenses can use other forms of ID to vote, he noted.

On the Assembly floor Wednesday, Republicans argued that requiring ID at the polls would prevent voter fraud and boost confidence in elections.

"That is a travesty to have your vote stolen from you," said Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald (R-Horicon).

Democrats said the measure would have no effect on voter fraud while making it harder for poor, elderly, minority and rural residents to vote. They said that no widespread voter fraud has ever been uncovered in Wisconsin.

New U.S. standards on IDs

The expected longer waits to get licenses are a result of the Real ID law of 2005, which was shepherded through Congress by U.S. Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, a Menomonee Falls Republican, in response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The law requires that licenses meet new, higher standards to be used to board airplanes or enter federal courthouses. States must add protections to their licensing facilities and issue tamper-proof cards. They will also have to digitally scan birth certificates and other documents and confirm they are legitimate.

Because of those changes, the state plans to begin mailing licenses and ID cards to applicants, rather than handing them over the counter, starting around August, said Mitch Warren, the state's Real ID program manager. The more strict documentation requirements are to begin in late 2012.

When all the requirements kick in, drivers will have to wait longer to get their licenses, Warren said.

Under the DMV's plan, drivers could also apply for IDs that don't comply with the federal law. They could use those for driving - and voting, provided the bill on voter ID passes - but not boarding airplanes. They may still wind up in long lines as they wait behind customers seeking the IDs that meet the federal requirements.

A different process

Instead of getting their licenses at DMV stations, drivers would receive a receipt they could use for up to 60 days to drive. Under the bill requiring ID at the polls, they could also use those temporary receipts to vote.

The other IDs that could be used to vote are: Wisconsin driver's licenses; state-issued ID cards; military IDs; passports; naturalization certificates; IDs issued by Wisconsin-based tribes; and certain student IDs.

The student IDs would be acceptable if they came from accredited public and private colleges and universities in Wisconsin, included signatures and expired within two years of being issued. Those showing college IDs would have to establish they are current students.

IDs from University of Wisconsin System schools do not meet those requirements, and changing to ones that do would cost the schools $1.1 million.

Other parts of bill

Other elements of the bill would cost taxpayers more than $6 million over the next two years. Most of that would stem from lost revenue because the DMV would have to provide people with free IDs, though not free driver's licenses. Free IDs are provided in the bill to make sure the ID requirement is not considered an unconstitutional poll tax.

Those living in nursing homes and the like would be exempt from the law, as would victims of stalking and those opposed to having their photos taken on religious grounds.

A voter who forgot to bring a photo ID could cast a provisional ballot, which would be counted if the voter presented a clerk with a photo ID by the Friday after the election.

The photo requirement would kick in in 2012. Other provisions of the bill would take effect almost immediately.

Those include requiring voters to sign poll books when they vote and to have lived in their voting ward for 28 days before the election. Now, voters must live in a ward 10 days before an election.

Voters would be allowed to vote by absentee ballot in clerk's offices for the two weeks before an election, down from 30 days before the election. Voting in clerks' offices would end on the Friday before the election, rather than the day before the election, as it does now.

http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/121682314.html

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Cheesehead Troopers are going to have to write a lot more tickets to afford this boondoggle. How are the homeless supposed to vote?

[Nagishkaw 510]

[Nagishkaw 510]

http://www.tribunact.com/news/2011-05-11/News/CT_DMVs_Select_ID_program_will_revoke_licenses_of_.html

CT DMV’s Select ID program will revoke licenses of thousands of immigrants

This fall, state drivers will need to go through a new system for renewing and obtaining licenses and photo IDs, and the change will likely result in the revocation of licenses for a wide group of both undocumented and documented immigrants, working and living in Connecticut towns. The program, called CT Select ID, would start Oct. 3 and has been recognized as compliant with the security guidelines of the federal Real ID Act, Connecticut Department of Motor Vehicles spokesperson William Seymour said in an interview to the Stanford Advocate.

The department will ask renewing customers whether they want to show original identity documents to establish an historical record of their identity with the agency as well as for federal identification purposes. Customers can also decline the verification and simply get a regular driver’s license or ID card.

Through Select CT ID, people who choose to verify will get a gold star on the license or ID card. Those declining will have one stamped, “Not for Federal Identification.” Those without verification could face extra federal screening under a proposed program slated to go into effect in 2017 for airports and federal buildings and that also could be used for possible commercial transactions.

The overall program in brief:

-The program will be phased in during the next six years as all licenses and ID cards come up for renewal. The renewal date is on the front of the card.

-People wanting a license or ID card indicating their identity was verified by the DMV will need to present certain original documents like a birth certificate, a valid U.S. passport or other primary documents; proof of name changes, including as a result of marriage, divorce, etc.; as well as current address.

-Anyone not wanting this verification can simply decline and renew their regular license or DMV-issued ID card. If someone declines, a valid U.S. passport can serve the same purpose as the verified license or ID card at federal screening checkpoints.

-Non-U.S. citizens who request the identity check must show various identity documents and legal presence in the United States that the DMV will verify online. Without legal presence, the DMV will not renew the driver’s license or DMV-issued ID card.

-Anyone with a renewed license can drive legally regardless of whether an identity check is done.

The Real ID Act was enacted by Congress in 2005 in response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington to require state motor vehicle officials nationwide to create a process to check for legal immigration or citizenship status during license application or forfeit federal recognition of the documents for official purposes such as travel.

Department of Motor Vehicles customer service staff and employees of the American Automobile Association (AAA) branch offices who conduct renewal processing will be trained throughout the month of May in how to process the licenses and winnow out phony documents, Seymour said.

“We’ve been looking at the federal government’s vision for this program, working towards compliance with it for several years as a result of the evolution of security standards since 9/11 ,” Seymour said. Eligibility and what combination of birth certificate, U.S. passport and documents showing legal presence in the country are needed to gain the license will vary from scenario to scenario, based on whether applicants are U.S. citizens, married, and a variety of other factors, Seymour said.

For instance, an unmarried male U.S. citizen applying for the license could present his birth certificate, a U.S. passport, Social Security card and proof of residence to get the license.

A divorced female whose name is different on her driver’s license than on her birth certificate, would additionally need marriage licenses and divorce records to demonstrate her name change. Foreign citizens studying or working in the United States would be required to show a variety of additional documents to corroborate their claims, such as an I-94 form, which shows when you entered the country, and for students, various proofs of enrollment from an academic institution.

Due to these requirements, the program will also restrict undocumented immigrants who are in the process of legalization, since they can’t prove their legal status.

“Connecticut’s Real ID program does not incorporate any option to immigrants who are in the process of obtaining residency. It will most certainly serve as racial profiling,” said immigration attorney Joseph Romanello.

According to Romanello, depending on the type of application to adjust legal status, from beginning to end, can take as little as eight months and as long as 10 years. During this time, immigrants receive no valid documentation from U.S. Immigration besides a letter stating that their process is under review. Although in some cases, they may receive an employment authorization card later in the process, it will not be sufficient to comply with the new Real ID requirements.

This will render individuals who are authorized by the United States to work unable to obtain a driver’s license, subsequently keeping them from obtaining liability insurance and from working, causing many immigrants authorized to work to lose their jobs.

Romanello also finds the program to be counterproductive, since it will hinder the ability of his clients who are going through the proper legal channels of legalization to simply enter a federal building for the immigration interview. “This will injure all immigrants who require IDs, especially on the day when they walk into the U.S. Immigration Federal Building, the morning of their immigration interview, to finalize their legal avenue to residency,” he said, adding, “My clients are nervous enough to meet with a U.S. Immigration supervisor for their residency interview.”

According to the Connecticut DMV, drivers who wish to avoid the more extensive check of immigration status and background information can still renew their licenses using the old renewal process, which only requires providing your current license.

Those applicants will receive a non-compliant license that can subject them to more scrutiny at airports, courthouses or other federal government buildings.

Immigrants with legal presence in the United States for fewer than than six years, including those with student and work visas, will be ineligible at the time of renewal to seek the Real ID compliant licenses and can only apply for the non-verified licenses. Earlier this spring, the federal government granted an extension of the deadline for states to implement the new standards, which were created in direct response to recommendations of the 9/11 Commission to create more secure driver’s license standards to help prevent similar attacks.

More than 20 states, including Maine, Georgia, Washington and New Hampshire have adopted legislation rejecting the requirements of the act out of a range of concerns for privacy and potential increased risk of identity theft.

Seymour said immigrants without legal presence who initiate an application for the new license would have their current licenses seized when the DMV checks with federal immigration officials about their status.

Romanello believes that if the Connecticut DMV is designing this program for safety measures, then the state should allow all immigrants to receive an ID so they could be properly identified and come out of the shadows.

“It’s a shame that our country acts in an unconstitutional manner simply to profile, in a prejudicial manner, against the classes of people, no matter what nationality, who have built this country since its very existence.”