State Republicans bring back photo ID

Wisconsin will join 27 other states in requiring identification be shown before voters can register to vote or before casting ballots under a bill circulated for co-sponsorship by Republicans on Friday.

Republican leaders promised to push the voter ID bill after they won back majority control of the Legislature following the November mid-term elections. Newly elected Republican Gov. Scott Walker has indicated he supports the requirement, but his office had no immediate comment on the bill being circulated.

Republicans passed the voter ID requirement three times when Democrat Jim Doyle was governor, only to have it vetoed each time.

This year, there’s nothing Democrats can do to stop them.

The bill proposed by state Rep. Jeff Stone, R-Greenfield, and Sen. Joe Leibham, R-Sheboygan, will go farther than in most states by requiring that the ID to be shown at the polls include a photo of the voter. This stricter requirement is only required currently in nine other states, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Eighteen states require the ID only, not necessarily one with a photo.

Wisconsin Republicans have pushed for it as a way to combat state voter fraud. Democrats counter there is no evidence of widespread fraud.

“Voter ID is the Republicans’ attempt to rig elections in their favor by disenfranchising minorities, students and seniors citizens,â€