Santorum: Voters Without ID Want to Perpetrate Fraud

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Presidential candidate Rick Santorum believes that the only reason a person does not have a government-issued photo ID is because they "want to continue to perpetrate fraud," according to statements he made in Wisconsin last month. Approximately 5 million "perpetrators" nationally do not have photo ID, with around 220,000 in Wisconsin.

Think Progress questioned Santorum about voter ID at a campaign stop in Milwaukee in March:

Think Progress: Voter ID has been a big issue here in Wisconsin. I know Lindsey Graham has proposed a national voter ID law. Is that something you would sign as president?

SANTORUM: I think that's a state issue. I support voter ID. In my opinion, the only reason you don't have a voter ID is you want to continue to perpetrate fraud.

Think Progress: What about folks who don't have access to a voter ID though?

SANTORUM: As you know, in every state they allow free access to free voter ID, so it's not a problem.

Wisconsin's voter ID law, Act 23, was signed into law in May of last year by Governor Scott Walker. Wisconsin was one of 34 states to introduce voter ID legislation in 2011 inspired by an American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) model bill. Two state judges have since rejected the law under the state constitution, and in the process, they have disproven Santorum claims about the people who don't have voter ID.

"The only reason you don't have a voter ID is you want to continue to perpetrate fraud"

Dane County Judge David Flanagan temporarily blocked implementation of Act 23 on March 6 and mentioned a few of the many individuals who do not currently have ID.

"Ms. Ruthelle Frank, now 84, is a lifelong resident of Brokaw, Wisconsin and a member of her town board since 1996," he wrote. "She has voted in every election over the past 64 years but she does not have a voter ID card."

She hardly appears to be a perpetrator of fraud.

According to Richard Saks, attorney for Milwaukee's NAACP and the immigrant rights group Voces de la Frontera (the groups that brought one of the lawsuits against voter ID legislation), "there are over 200,000 people in Wisconsin who do not have a photo ID card," and with the exception of Rick Santorum, "none have been accused or charged with wanting to perpetrate fraud."

"Many have no driver's license because they cannot afford a car and have no other need for a state-issued photo ID card," he says, because they often have other forms of identification. "Many veterans have a Veteran's Administration card, but those cards are not accepted at the polls. Others have ID cards issued by their employer, but those also are not accepted at the polls." Saks said that many others have difficulty obtaining an ID because they do not have a birth certificate or because their birth certificate is erroneous.

On March 12, another Dane County Judge, Richard Niess, declared Wisconsin's voter ID law unconstitutional and reflected in his opinion on the "insurmountable burdens facing many of our fellow constitutionally qualified electors should Act 23 hold sway."

"Mostly they would consist of those struggling souls who, unlike the vast majority of Wisconsin voters, for whatever reason will lack the financial, physical, mental, or emotional resources to comply with [the photo ID requirements of] Act 23, but are otherwise constitutionally entitled to vote," said Neiss.

"They allow free access to free voter ID, so it's not a problem"

"Mr. Ricky Tyrone Lewis is 58 years old, a Marine Corps Veteran and a lifelong Milwaukee resident," Judge Flanagan wrote in his March 6 decision. "He was able to offer proof of his honorable discharge but Milwaukee has been unable to find the record of his birth so he cannot obtain a voter ID card."

Contrary to Santorum's assertions, Judge Flanagan found that "obtaining a voter ID card can be tedious and is not really cost free."

Judge Flanagan wrote that the assertion that a voter ID is 'free' is "at best a somewhat incomplete picture." In the case, affidavits were filed by forty individuals who tried to obtain a voter ID, which Judge Flanagan said "offer a picture of carousel visits to government offices, delay, dysfunctional computer systems, misinformation and significant investment of time to avoid being turned away at the ballot box. This is burdensome, all the more for the elderly and disabled."

But for Santorum, these burdens are "not a problem" and the only reason people like Ms. Ruthelle Frank and Mr. Ricky Tyrone Lewis lack an ID is because they "want to continue to perpetrate fraud."