[EL] That out of state license

Wed May 10 09:15:38 PDT 2017

I appreciate that difference, and it's one reason why I hestitated quite a bit before sending the prior post. But it doesn't answer, for me at least, the question.

After all, if the purpose of driving is to drive, then there are no substitutes when prohibited from driving. Lots of people really like driving--in my younger days, people would often just "go for a drive."

Would the effort required to get a Wisconsin driver's license really have been a greater inconvenience to him than the inconvenience of having to use public transit, walk, pay for taxis or Uber, asking others to drive, etc.? No where is it suggested that Mr. Reynolds could not get a driver's license simply by making the routine application required by law.

Conversely, of course, there can be substitutes for voting--it depends on what you think the purpose of voting is, and what you think it accomplishes. If the purpose of voting (to a particular person) is to see the people he wants in office elected, there may be much better ways to do that than voting (basically, spending time and resources convincing others to vote). The fact that voting requires some inconvenience doesn't mean it is denied. Can it really be true that for at least 10+ months prior to election day Mr. Reynolds was so busy he could NEVER go to the DMV to update his license, as required by state law for at least 8 months prior to election day? Is there any level of inconvenience that is tolerable? I keep wondering what the answer is to that question.

I wonder, if you asked people, which they would choose:
a) you cannot legally drive for 9 months.
b) you cannot legally vote in the next election.

I suspect most people would chose option b. Not saying I would agree, just that I think they would.

Again, I know this will all get caught up in the immediate politics of the day, but my election law classes and I have long pondered over why anyone bothers to vote at all. I do have my own answers to the question and I vote myself. I think voting is an important power and duty. But I don't think we give nearly enough serious thought to what voting means and how and why it is important, and how and why it might differ (or not) from other rights. I don't think saying "there are no substitutes" answers the question, at least not completely, though it may be part of the answer.

Bradley A. Smith

Josiah H. Blackmore II/Shirley M. Nault

   Professor of Law

Capital University Law School

303 E. Broad St.

Columbus, OH 43215

614.236.6317

http://law.capital.edu/faculty/bios/bsmith.aspx

________________________________
From: Jon Sherman [jsherman at fairelectionsnetwork.com]
Sent: Wednesday, May 10, 2017 10:55 AM
To: Smith, Brad
Cc: Rick Hasen; Election Law Listserv
Subject: Re: [EL] That out of state license

Burdening voting and burdening driving are different of course. There are usually alternatives to driving, such as public transportation, taxis, walking, getting driven by a relative or friend, etc., all of which can get you to a polling place or a campaign office or anywhere else. But there are no alternatives to voting. Voting is voting - there are no substitutes.

On Wed, May 10, 2017 at 10:38 AM, Smith, Brad <BSmith at law.capital.edu<mailto:BSmith at law.capital.edu>> wrote:
Under Wisconsin law, after becoming a resident of the state in 2015, Reynolds had 60 days to get a Wisconsin driver's license. Wisc. Statutes Chp. 343, so it appears that by election day 2016, for 9 months or more Mr. Reynolds had been tooling around the Dairy State illegally, but fortunately was not caught.

So, which is a worse--that until he goes to the DMV and turns in his Illinois license for a Wisconsin license, Mr. Reynolds can't vote, thus forfeiting an infintisimal chance of altering the election outcome, or that until he goes to the DMV and turns in his Illinois license for a Wisconsin license, he can't legally drive to his local party headquarters to engage in volunteer activity, where his activities might actually influence a dozen or more votes to support his favored candidate? (And can't legally drive himself to the polls to vote, to the airport to board a plane, to the bank to open a checking account, or to the drug store to buy cold medicine, the examples used in the article.)

This is actually a serious question, to which I don't know the answer with certainty. I do know that governments generally have lots of rules that don't serve much purpose and that often infringe on ordinary liberties, whether constitutionally guaranteed or not, but support for such constraints seems widespread. I wish more people were more skeptical of government's asserted "interests" generally.

And I thank Mr. Reynolds for his service to our country.

Bradley A. Smith

Josiah H. Blackmore II/Shirley M. Nault

   Professor of Law

Capital University Law School

303 E. Broad St.

Columbus, OH 43215

614.236.6317<tel:(614)%20236-6317>

http://law.capital.edu/faculty/bios/bsmith.aspx<https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=http://law.capital.edu/faculty/bios/bsmith.aspx&c=E,1,1pF9aa2fEKL0bZp0M1I445mtOtvppSfQSLKEBC8LBC5g9wEbn9SzWkqmOcqEbuZGcGUbIhrrsv720lKmx2df99w2_3vxC_IvznmOAZYF4AHtsxzkJA,,&typo=1>

________________________________
From: law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu<mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu> [law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu<mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu>] on behalf of Rick Hasen [rhasen at law.uci.edu<mailto:rhasen at law.uci.edu>]
Sent: Wednesday, May 10, 2017 12:23 AM
To: Election Law Listserv
Subject: [EL] ELB News and Commentary 5/10/17

“In Wisconsin, ID law proved insurmountable for many voters”<https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=http://electionlawblog.org/%3fp%3d92456&c=E,1,pq4V2ZcsBHa5fBxCb-MJvqnAQZZF7v2TYLmDCReds1r2pxFU5N7cbxcjqGZ1lNyz4UD4O64z2JFrCm7IN0hrVH3FdwwMkifll4lxc1_Db4vI&typo=1>
Posted on May 9, 2017 9:05 pm<https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=http://electionlawblog.org/%3fp%3d92456&c=E,1,xNEongnvVNHg513szCSihi3ed2r9eDGEesRQscfwctPpZTjQwPy8mKLKMnSipi4JYLs3qajpkFLIRsJrlCgh-K6fDeaTW5ADSBQZsi2vq3dSGJxD1ls,&typo=1> by Rick Hasen<https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=http://electionlawblog.org/%3fauthor%3d3&c=E,1,VGx8gEWwanShCDDLAkczi9sgZ0A9RcqDazSYNzM0dT26FGYh-pnmbT_2JI1lVO6MWqScwMIjEniq_qWfL7QX8lq9UjaMOMZ3IbbsdwPugaueAr_3cPMJ&typo=1>
AP:<http://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/In-Wisconsin-ID-law-proved-insurmountable-for-11132489.php>
When Sean Reynolds<http://www.seattlepi.com/search/?action=search&channel=news&inlineLink=1&searchindex=gsa&query=%22Sean+Reynolds%22> went to his polling place at a local ice skating rink on Election Day, he showed his valid driver’s license. The problem? It wasn’t issued in Wisconsin.
Reynolds, 30, was taken aback. He had moved to Madison in 2015 to find work after leaving the Navy and receiving his associate’s degree from a university in neighboring Illinois. After successfully registering to vote in Wisconsin using an online website, he thought all he needed to show at the polls was a current photo ID. After all, his Illinois ID was good enough to board a plane, open a checking account and purchase cold medicine.
“Coming home and being denied the right to vote because I didn’t have a specific driver’s license is very frustrating,” said Reynolds, who served in both Iraq and Afghanistan providing support for special forces. “I was a little incredulous that they wouldn’t accept another state’s driver’s license. I didn’t understand why it was not a valid form of ID.”
Reynolds said he had been working 50-hour weeks, receiving hourly pay, and could not afford to take time off from his job in security management to visit a local DMV and transfer his license from Illinois….
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D92456&title=%E2%80%9CIn%20Wisconsin%2C%20ID%20law%20proved%20insurmountable%20for%20many%20voters%E2%80%9D>
Posted in election administration<https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=http://electionlawblog.org/%3fcat%3d18&c=E,1,fejluzo-pR4EIa_TOPKeQ4_06hvcXSTX_t3S16goOJud8YtAQ4n601S-bdf4SZtk1xDYjiM0iBjk0rvKAackBedN9RjMk1mXVxM6RQDczr5DKCbgqI-4n28,&typo=1>, The Voting Wars<https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=http://electionlawblog.org/%3fcat%3d60&c=E,1,ZniLMrBOXQQTezTs6sNxeN-AQNljteSB_Ozw-fnfZl10Q9DS6fhX6OkooeT_qeAAqAEDNYqG9KC1ggw44He0QOAcmS5VzjTSpkpgwQ,,&typo=1>

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Jon Sherman
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