Voter Fraud

In one scene in the 1985 movie, “The Breakfast Club,” the high school burnout, John Bender, asks the nerd, Brian Johnson, why he needs a fake ID. “So I can vote,” Brian answers.

The answer is rich with irony for those of us in Wisconsin. The movie is set outside of Chicago, Illinois, where, in 1960, they elevated vote fraud from simple avocation to art form.

Here, in Wisconsin, many think such things don’t even exist. Yet, the reality is, had the young Mr. Johnson lived in Wisconsin, he’d have no need to get a fake ID just to vote.

He could have registered, and voted, without ever once being required to prove eligibility.

How do I know?

Because in November 1984, I voted for president (and senator, and an assortment of other offices). That’s not so unusual … except that I did not turn 18 until December 1984.

“How could that happen?” you ask.

It was easy. Some group set up a voter registration booth on the campus of the University of Wisconsin, and the worker asked me if I wanted to register. He never asked for any proof of eligibility.

A week later I went to the polls and cast my vote. Again, no proof of age was required.

I had rather forgotten the incident until earlier this week, when I was in Madison. Voter registration was everywhere.

I assume that these voter registrars are paid by ACORN or one of their myriad subsidiary corporations.

When I voted illegally in 1984, I did not consider myself part of any voter fraud effort. I just figured that, if the government is this inept, why not?

Recent testimony at a federal legislative subcommittee hearing indicates the problem continues today.

Curiously, I never see voter registration here in downtown Milwaukee during the work day. I suspect it is because ACORN and its subsidiaries fear that people who work and pay taxes are unlikely to support their desired candidates.

But on a college campus (or jail), where the potential voters are beneficiaries of government, rather than its financiers, that is where the registration efforts occur.

As I noted, I did not consider myself part of a voter fraud problem back in 1984. And I assume that people who illegally register and vote today do not either. They likely figure as I did then, “What the heck?”

My illegal vote could have been easily prevented, if only Wisconsin required some form of identification to vote. But current law, as then, requires none.

Illegal votes could be prevented with the same minimal precautions we employ to prevent underage persons from buying alcohol or tobacco.

This is not “disenfranchisement.” It’s the bare minimum required to prevent the state and our election process from being the laughingstock of high school and underage college students.