Democrats and Republicans openly shouted at one another in a news conference Thursday over a constitutional amendment that would require voters to provide photo identification at the polls.
The verbal fight included Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker, D-Weston, who opposes the proposal, and Sen. Alberta Darling, R-River Hills, who supports it, along with several other lawmakers.
The proposal was defeated in the Senate Thursday, with all Democrats voting against it and all but one Republican voting in favor of it.
The incident follows a recent Milwaukee Police Department Special Investigations Unit report regarding individual voters who cast multiple votes in the 2004 general election.
The report suggested ending same-day registration and requiring voters to show a photo ID would correct the problem, though election officials dispute the report.
The Milwaukee Elections Commission has previously stated that they do not endorse the two recommendations in the report.
Michael Tyritz, a spokesperson for state Rep. Jeff Stone, R-Greendale, said the requirement of a photo ID would solve the problems presented in the report and make elections run more smoothly.
We know with students and people in the process of moving [giving an exact address] may be problematic. At least with a photo ID we know you are who you say you are,"" Tyritz said.
State Rep. Frederick Kessler, D-Milwaukee, said he is opposed to the bill adding the proposal would exclude certain groups from voting.
Kessler said poor people tend to move more often than rich people, so the proposal would disenfranchise them if their IDs did not reflect their current address.
The bill could also hurt students, he said.
""One of the types [of IDs] they exclude is student IDs. That clearly is designed at suppressing the Democratic vote,"" Kessler said.
Jeff Rolling, chair of the Wisconsin Students Public Interest Research Group, said not accepting student IDs could affect voter turnout.
""It can be a convenience thing for people to vote. The harder it is to vote, the harder it is to get people to go out there and vote,"" Rolling said.
