Press Releases

Last Friday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi brought H.R. 4 to the House floor, which passed with a nearly party-line vote. The so-called Voting Rights Advancement Act is another example of a cleverly-named bill that sounds nice, but whose goal is to strip states of their right to administer their own elections and whose consequences will result in further incentives to commit voter fraud.

Wisconsin law currently requires one form of government-issued identification, including a driver’s license, student I.D. and six others, to let election administrators know that the person seeking to cast a vote is indeed a resident of the state and voting in the correct election. Congressional, state Senate, state Assembly and Mayoral districts (among others) all have different constituencies depending on where district lines are drawn. “Voter I.D.” laws not only protect the integrity of our elections, but allow poll workers, who often volunteer for their position, to ensure that when somebody votes, they are voting in the correct election.

Congressman Glenn Grothman (R-Glenbeulah) today released the following statement about H.R. 4:

“It’s been well-documented that far too much time and energy have been put toward the phony impeachment hearings,” said Grothman. “That is why it is so shocking that the little time leftover has been allocated to passing a bill that will strip away states’ rights to administer their own elections. Democrats have been very clever this Congress when naming their bills. The name of the bill will often be an idea that everyone agrees with, such as voting rights, but when you dig into the text, you see a very different story. The so-called Voting Rights Advancement Act is nothing more than a federal government takeover of elections, taking power away from citizens and states and instead giving it to politicians and bureaucrats. It was disappointing to see every Democrat vote for this bill.

Furthermore, this bill goes against the will of Wisconsinites by overturning state photo I.D. laws. When I speak with poll workers and town clerks around Wisconsin, I get an overwhelmingly positive response on our state’s photo I.D. laws. These laws are intended to protect the integrity of our elections by ensuring votes are cast properly and in the correct elections. Photo I.D. laws are not unique to Wisconsin or America. Mexico, Germany, France, Israel, among others, all require identification in order to vote. Why is it that other countries realize this important piece in maintaining election integrity while some of my colleagues do not?

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