Conservatively Speaking
State Senator Mary Lazich (R-New Berlin) represents parts of four counties: Milwaukee, Waukesha, Racine, and Walworth. Her Senate District 28 includes New Berlin, Franklin, Greendale, Hales Corners, Muskego, Waterford, Big Bend, the town of Vernon and parts of Greenfield, East Troy, and Mukwonago. Senator Lazich has been in the Legislature for more than a decade. She considers herself a tireless crusader for lower taxes, reduced spending and smaller government.
A positive step for voters
By Mary Lazich
Saturday, Feb 2 2008, 07:53 AM
Every voter in the state of Wisconsin is assigned a unique “registration identification number” (RIN) by the Government Accountability Board, formerly the Elections Board. The number is confidential. Under current law, only election officials can have access to the number.
The RIN is a management tool used to track voter records in the official statewide voter registration list. The number alone does not reveal any confidential data about the assigned individual. It appears on poll lists and other lists requested by the public. Only an authorized user of the statewide voter registration list can access and utilize the number, and extraordinary steps must be taken to redact the information from various documents provided by the statewide voter registration list.
Why is this number so critical?
The number has to be on documents to allow local election officials to determine the voter record and to update records more efficiently.
The law designating confidentiality of the RIN is preventing the Government Accountability Board from implementing new technology that would benefit voters. The Board wants to begin using a new function of the statewide voting registration list called VPA, or Voter Public Access. VPA would allow you to log onto the internet and find out whether you are registered to vote, the location of your polling place, the districts you live in, and the current office holders. You could also find out whether your provisional ballot was counted for a particular election.
There is a problem, however, with current law.
The screen that shows whether the voter is registered contains the confidential RIN, and the Government Accountability Board is precluded from augmenting the new VPA.
I voted in favor of Assembly Bill 295 that will remove the confidentiality of registration identification numbers. With Wisconsin’s all-important Presidential primary just weeks away, it is critical the state take the necessary steps to allow the start of VPA that will be of great service to voters statewide.
