Every victory, no matter how small or temporary, is still a victory...good news.

Wisconsin is doing great things these days. I'm sort of in awe of those folks- wow.

In Wisconsin, high schools encourage those who turn 18 to go to the county, city, or town clerk and register to vote. The Wisconsin state legislature is about to pass a law that turns the requirement that clerks register the 18 years olds to one in which they will only have to do so voluntarily, leaving the choice up to the Republican or Democratic clerk to decide who does and who does not get to register to vote.

So how can we protect the integrity of elections without suppressing voting rights? Any ideas?

Я считаю, что совершенно неважно, кто и как будет в партии голосовать; но вот что чрезвычайно важно, это - кто и как будет считать голоса.

Roughly translated: "The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything."
(Josef Stalin)

Hmm, in what sense is it bad that you have to prove who you are when voting? For me, it protects personal integrity and works well in Sweden. As I see it there are other problems in the US, such as the mandatory registration to be able to vote, electronical voting and counting machines and other bureaucratic obstacles.

It's "bad" because it creates one more of those "bureaucratic obstacles." As has been pointed out,your chance of being hit by lightning is larger than the possibility that an individual voter will commit voter fraud.Showing up at the polls with a voter registration card is the only ID one needs.Until extensive individual voter fraud can be demonstrated(it hasn't been)there's no need to change the laws.

I have to produce a picture ID at the airport if I want to fly, the bank if I want to cash a check, the car rental desk, and even the local library if I want to borrow a book. Every place I've worked has required a picture badge. So if it's a violation of my civil rights to demand a picture ID at the voting booth, it must be equally true for these other sites. The solution is to ban any and all requirements for any form of ID anywhere, then no-one can complain about discrimination. Problem solved!!

"So if it's a violation of my civil rights,to demand a picture ID at the voting booth, it must be equally true for these other sites." Only if you're a dimwit."Problem solved!!" There is no serious problem with individual voter fraud.It's miniscule.YOU have a problem-with thinking.The rest of your comment is hogwash."Republican Lawyers Group's Own Study Undercuts Vote Fraud Claims" can be found online.It was originally posted at HuffPo;I read it at AlterNet.There's a link to the study in the article.

I count 308 instances of voter fraud in the study.Not 3 million and 8,Not three hundred thousand and 8,no,not three thousand and 8.Just 308,over a ten year period:2000-2010.That's all the republicans can muster.They don't tell you how many votes were cast during that time(Gee,I wonder why).Well over a billion votes were cast in primaries and general elections,federal,state and local.That's less than 1 instance of voter fraud for every 3 million votes cast,and this is a conservative estimate.It's probably closer to one in 3 and a half million.

The pea brains and far right wingers(often one and the same)have an obsession with this,when there is next to nothing to support their contentions.When I stated in my first post that someone has a better chance of being hit by lightning,it wasn't hyperbole.The chance of presidential election being changed by individual voter fraud?zero.A u.s. senate election?zero.Any state-wide election?zero.Any federal or state congressional election?zero.The chance that the right wing creeps will comprehend any of this?zero.

"Voter ID is a good idea,you should be who you say you are in order to vote." Voter ID is not a good idea when it's pushed for a partisan purpose,to disenfranchise those who aren't going to vote a particular way.That's precisely what's being done in Wisconsin.As for someone not being who he says he is,that's so rare that it's hardly worth considering.The burden of proof is on those who want to change existing law.They haven't come close to meeting that burden of proof.The law should not be changed because certain people will vote for the "wrong" candidate-the democrat.(No,I'm not a democrat.)That's what all this is about.Anyone who says it's not is lying.

There're still a number of older folks in Wisconsin who were born in family homes, came from rural areas where birth certificates were not issued, nor the births recorded with the county or state, or immigrated in their early years. They've been voting for 60+ years, and suddenly are being told they can't vote unless they can show a birth certificate to get a WI ID. It's devastating and insulting to them, but no provisions were made to help them. Many no longer drive, some partially disabled or unwell. They get absentee ballots to vote, but how do they get to the DMV? They're disenfranchized voters. When this law initially passed, many people expressed concerns about people of limited means being able to pay for ID's, so it was decided that residents would be able to get WI IDs at the WI Dept of Motor Vehicles FOR FREE, but Mr. Walker & cronies sent a notice to DMV employees warning them NOT to OFFER that information to people. Unless voters making the effort to get a WI ID already had that information, they were being charged between $17-38.00, which may have discouraged any number of people from getting actually getting them. Intentional effort to disenfranchized voters. It was only after a state worker leaked that bit of nefarious deception in a memo that the embarassed Governor & his cohorts allowed signs to be posted at the DMV ensuring people there would be no charge for IDs. It was an ongoing maelstrom of indecision, changed decisions, and no decisions as to what exactly would be accepted as a legal ID. The UW system finally decided to offer to make students free IDs when the powers that be couldn't decide if current student IDs were acceptable- a circus run by clowns, but none of it was funny. Deceit, deception, intentional confusion in an attempt to discourage students from voting. Many of us have necessary pieces of information to use as IDs at the polls, but it's naive, short-sighted, (or disingenuous) to assume that even a significant portion of eligible voters can meet that criteria. Not everyone drives, not everyone flies, not everyone rents a car, nor need a picture ID at the library. To people struggling to survive economically, these activities are luxuries they can't afford, but voting is a right that we all share, and it cannot be available only to those who can afford it. Put the pieces of the puzzle together: a new governor and administration whose only interests are to strengthen the power & grip of their party, and to give businesses carte blanc by demolishing laws and regulations that protect the environment, doing some serious union-busting to remove worker protections and lower wages, torte "reform" to limit or remove any threat of legal action against businesses, .... the list goes on & on. A million+ Wisconsinites signed recall petitions for Mr. Walker, and over 40,000 people showed up at the capital in Madison again last weekend to commemorate the beginning of his reign of destruction. The WI GOPs intent in passing the voter ID law, the deceptive manner in which it was handled, and the intentional confusion & misinformation surrounding the entire process speaks for itself.

"Try a library without an ID,..." I do,almost all the time.I use my library card.The only times I've needed an ID were when I applied for a library card,and when I moved.Unfortunately,there isn't anything that that keeps the trolls,semi-literates,and mentally impaired off CD.

You should be grateful that hate speech is allowed on CD.I allow for the fact that you're doing the best you can.