Judge Denies Plea To Expand Acceptable Forms Of Voter ID
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A federal judge on Monday denied a civil rights group's request that voters be allowed to use more forms of photo identification at Wisconsin's polls, marking another chapter in a string of legal decisions surrounding the politically-charged voter ID requirement.
The American Civil Liberties Union asked U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman in March to declare that people can use technical college IDs, out-of-state driver licenses and veteran photo IDs to vote.
The ACLU argued that the voter ID law allows four-year college IDs at the polls but it is unclear whether technical college IDs are acceptable. The group also argued that Wisconsin voters with out-of-state driver licenses must surrender the licenses, forfeiting the ability to drive, so they can get Wisconsin IDs, amounting to an unconstitutional poll tax. Finally, the group contended the law arbitrarily excludes the use of Veterans Administration IDs even though U.S. military IDs are acceptable.
Adelman rejected all three arguments.
He wrote that the voter ID law doesn't expressly forbid technical college IDs and the state Government Accountability Board has interpreted the law as allowing them. The judge said the ACLU's request isn't ripe because neither Gov. Scott Walker nor the Legislature has disagreed with that interpretation so far.
The request to allow out-of-state driver's licenses is moot, Adelman said. The two plaintiffs representing Wisconsin voters who would have to surrender out-of-state driver's licenses in the ACLU's request have U.S. passports they can use at the polls, he said. The ACLU failed to persuade him that a large number of people in Wisconsin would have to surrender their out-of-state licenses so they could get IDs they could use at the polls, he added.
As for the request to allow veteran IDs, Adelman said the Legislature's decision to exclude them wasn't arbitrary. Lawmakers had to draw the line somewhere, he said.
Sean Young, an attorney with the ACLU's Voting Rights Project, said the organization is considering its appeal options. Voting Rights Project Director Dale Ho said in a statement that people should have a broad range of "common-sense" photo ID options and it's unconscionable that veterans can't use their government-issued IDs under Wisconsin's law.
The voter ID requirement has been a bitter bone of contention since GOP lawmakers put it into place in 2011. Republicans argue the mandate will help fight voter fraud; Democrats counter widespread voter fraud doesn't exist in Wisconsin and the requirement is really an attempt to keep poor people, immigrants and senior citizens who lack IDs from voting.
The ACLU filed a lawsuit challenging the ID requirement in 2011, the year Republican lawmakers passed it into law. Adelman struck the law down last year but a federal appeals court panel reversed that ruling.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court found the law constitutional last year as well. That ruling came in separate challenges from the NAACP's Milwaukee branch and the League of Women Voters.
As things stand now, the law will be in effect for the 2016 elections.
(© Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
