Improving technology has created an opportunity to make voting easier in Wisconsin while simultaneously improving security against vote fraud. The current debate over so-called "reform," in contrast, frames the issue as a choice between ease of voting and security.

There's no point in requiring each voter to furnish a picture of him or herself so election workers can compare the voter's face to it. The state already has digital photographs of most of the state's eligible voters, taken as citizens apply for driver's licenses or other state-issued identification. As computer capacity has increased and become less expensive, it has become feasible to furnish those digital photographs to election workers for use at the polls.

Today, Wisconsin has digital photographs available for 70 percent of eligible voters, and that percentage is rising by about 3 percent each month as people renew their licenses. By the time the next presidential election is held, November 2004, that percentage could be over 90%.

If election workers were furnished with "thumbnail" images for each voter, either on paper or via a secure Web site, confirming voters' identity would be very easy, without requiring any additional effort by the voters themselves. At the same time, with such a system it is hard to imagine anyone attempting to cast a ballot under someone else's name.

Attention could be focused on the small -- and diminishing -- number of people for whom no digital photograph is on file with the state. As such voters appear at polling places, those who had not previously voted in that ward could be asked to present photo ID from some other source.

The small number who are unable to provide appropriate ID could be photographed using an inexpensive disposable camera which would be put away with other election records such as the ballots, which are destroyed after a period of time. The film would not be developed except on the order of a court upon receipt of a credible complaint that fraud was committed.

Such a system would substantially improve the security of Wisconsin's elections, without burdening or discouraging marginal voters, such as those who have recently moved or are homeless.