Wisconsin to require photo ID for voting

MADISON, Wis., May 20 (UPI) -- The Wisconsin Legislature has passed a law making voters show photo identification at the polls over loud protest and boycotts by some Democrats.

The Senate approved the measure 19-5 Thursday, following an Assembly vote of 60-35 last week, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.

"Requiring photo identification to vote will go a long way to eliminate the threat of voter fraud," said Republican Gov. Scott Walker, who will sign the bill next week.

But Democrats charged the law will disenfranchise minority, elderly and rural voters.

"This is voter suppression," said Sen. Lena Taylor of Milwaukee. "This is voter disenfranchisement. This is voter confusion."

Opponents say the law could be challenged in court because absentee voters would have to mail in a photocopy of their ID with their ballots, which would burden the elderly and disabled. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld Indiana's photo ID law in 2008.

Republicans have passed the bill three times before, but then-Gov. Jim Doyle, a Democrat, vetoed it.

The bill could keep people from voting in another's name. Wisconsin authorities prosecuted 20 voter fraud cases from 2008, but none involved people voting in someone else's name.