Eliminating same-day registration discussed

MADISON, Wis. (AP) - Eliminating election day voter registration and accessing a federal database to weed out non-citizens who may be illegally voting would cost Wisconsin nearly $6.5 million to implement, reports delivered Tuesday to the state elections board showed.

Republican lawmakers have floated both ideas, but even supporters are concerned about the costs.

Republican Gov. Scott Walker said last week he would not sign a bill doing away with the state's 36-year-old law allowing election day registration because of the potential $5.2 million cost identified by the Government Accountability Board. However, he stopped short of saying he would veto any proposal or sign something that costs less.

A pair of Republican lawmakers have said they intend to introduce a bill repealing the law for the GOP-controlled Legislature to consider next year, even though Walker has said it's not a priority for him and believes discussion of it is a distraction.

Republican state Sen. Mary Lazich, the incoming chairwoman of the Senate Elections Committee, has also expressed interest in using a U.S. Department of Homeland Security database to identify immigrants living in Wisconsin who may not be citizens. The elections board said doing that would cost $1.2 million over five years and require law changes.

Lazich said she still believes it would be a good practice, but acknowledged cost is a concern. She would not say whether she will introduce a bill requiring it. Colorado and Florida use the database, but most people checked turned out to be citizens, the board said in a report. Each of the states found fewer than 200 people who were registered to vote but were not citizens, the report said.

The board heard from people who were both in favor of keeping election day voter registration and those who believe it opens the door to fraud.

Election day voter registration has served the state well since it started in 1976, said Andrea Kaminski, executive director of the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin. There is no evidence that same-day registration has caused significant problems and eliminating it would hurt voter turnout, she told the board.

Officials should focus on positive reforms that will increase turnout, Kaminski said.

The Wisconsin Municipal Clerks Association has passed a resolution opposing elimination of same-day registration, said its president, Vikki Zuehlke, clerk of the village of Waterford. She specifically cited the costs outlined in the report as a concern.

Tom Vandervest, an election inspector in Middleton, told the board he was extremely upset with talk about same-day registration possibly being eliminated.

"We live in a democracy and we feel our rights are being chipped away one by one," he said. People can be registered to vote at the polls without causing long lines, he said.

State Rep. Don Pridemore, a Republican from Hartford who is running for state superintendent of the Department of Public Instruction, told the board he observed a long line of people waiting to register at a Milwaukee polling station in the Nov. 6 election.

Pridemore told the board he would be introducing a bill to address how long it takes to register at the polls, but did not give any details about what it would say.

The GAB's estimated $5.2 million cost for eliminating election day registration is "outrageous," said Ardis Cerny of Pewaukee, a close observer of elections and advocate for requiring photo identification at the polls to combat fraud. She said elections board staff complicated the issue with its report and questioned the accuracy of its cost estimates.

The cost is primarily driven by requirements the state would face if it were to eliminate election day registration. Elimination of the state law would make Wisconsin immediately subject to both the National Voter Registration Act and 2002's Help America Vote Act. The state also would have to establish a system for offering voter registration services at state offices where people get driver's licenses and at agencies that provide public assistance or administer programs that assist people with disabilities.

The GAB's $5.2 million cost estimate doesn't include projected expenses by other agencies, such as the Department of Transportation, that would be affected by the law change. A final report, to be done as soon as next week, will include those estimates as well as comments from election clerks and other states, said GAB attorney Mike Haas.

The elections board in March 2011 went on record in opposition to eliminating election day registration. On Tuesday, the board did not reaffirm that stand or take any new position.