April 06, 2016 01:15 PM UTC

At Least He's Not Your Congressman (Spilling The Beans Edition)

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• by: Colorado Pols

Milwaukee’s WTMJ-TV reports on a Republican member of Congress from Wisconsin, Glenn Grothman, who waxed a bit too honest about how requiring voters to present a photo ID in his state will help his fellow Republican candidates:

In comments made to TODAY’S TMJ4’s Charles Benson on election night, U.S. congressman Glenn Grothman (R-Campbellsport) said he thinks Wisconsin’s new voter ID law will help the eventual GOP nominee win in the state…

“You know that a lot of Republicans, since 1984 in the presidential races, have not been able to win in Wisconsin,” Benson said. “Why would it be any different for Ted Cruz, or a Donald Trump?”

After explaining he thought Hillary Clinton would be a weak nominee for the Democrats, Grothman said “now we have photo ID, and I think photo ID is gonna make a little bit of a difference as well.”

As anyone who has followed the debate over voter ID here in Colorado or elsewhere knows, requiring such identification to exercise one’s right to vote creates a significant barrier: especially for elderly and low-income voters. Because those populations have a demonstrated tendency to vote Democratic, voter ID laws tend to reduce Democratic turnout and boost Republican turnout.

But of course, you’re not supposed to say that. There is no evidence of systemic voter fraud in American elections, including any evidence beyond the highly occasional anecdote of fraud that might actually be thwarted by presenting a photo ID. On the other hand, many more otherwise eligible voters who can’t obtain an acceptable ID are effectively disenfranchised.

In short, either Rep. Grothman is alleging there was fraud in Wisconsin elections that this law is now stopping, a claim for which there is no evidence, or he’s admitting that voter ID laws will have the effect of suppressing Democratic votes.

Seems like it’s probably the latter one, folks.