A bill by GOP Rep. Michael Schraa would allow voters who cannot get a government ID, to sign an affidavit stating the reason, at the polls.
"We’re allowing them, if they are not able to afford to go and pay for the documentation for a birth certificate in order to get a free ID, we’re allowing them to simply take an oath. It’s a private conversation they’re having on Election Day,” Schraa says.
The ballot would count, unless someone challenged it.
Democratic Rep. JoCasta Zamarripa criticized the bill during a committee hearing Wednesday. She says it would disproportionately intimidate minority voters.
“I have great concerns over the fact that we will be making largely people of color, audibly and vocally have to declare (they're indigent.) We’re going to have to make large numbers, it sounds like, of people of color have to tell the poll worker that they’re poor,” Zamarripa says.
Other Democrats criticized the bill for failing to define indigence or who would set the standard for each individual.
Republican supporters claim the bill is modeled after Indiana's which the U.S. Supreme Court upheld, and t hey call the plan a reasonable accommodation.
Wisconsin’s Photo ID law remains on hold, while court challenges continue.
Two federal lawsuits went before U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman in downtown Milwaukee, this week.