Leaders from technical colleges in Wisconsin are asking for the reconsideration of new amendments to the controversial voter ID law that exclude technical college IDs from eligibility in state elections.
In a letter to the Government Accountability Board, Wisconsin Technical College System President Daniel Clancy said the board should reconsider its decision not to include technical colleges in the new Voter ID Law. While tech college IDs can be used to register to vote, he said students cannot currently use them to receive their ballots.
The law stipulates state citizens must provide photo identification in order to obtain their ballots, including a signature and expiration date.
Reid Magney, spokesperson for the GAB, said the original legislation went through a “soft implementation” policy last spring before the statewide recall elections. People were required to show a photo ID at the recall polls, and if they had none, they were handed a sheet of information regarding the new law.
Acceptable IDs, Magney said, included drivers’ licenses, Wisconsin state IDs and passports, among others. Student IDs, however, were not on the original list, as no student ID had the criteria stipulated in the original legislation.
An amendment was made to the legislation earlier this month to include student IDs on the list under a “sticker policy” that allows student IDs to have a sticker on the front that includes the necessary information, thereby allowing them to obtain a ballot, Magney said.
Student IDs from University of Wisconsin System schools and most private schools will be valid to obtain ballots, Magney said. The technical schools, however, are excluded from this exemption.
Clancy said the language of the law suggests a technical school ID could be used in an election.
“The plain language of the statute clearly includes technical college student IDs as an acceptable form of identification for voting purposes,” Clancy said in the letter.
Clancy noted the discrepancy between the voting rights of tech college students versus students in other institutes of higher education in the state. He echoes the sentiments of Mid-State Technical College President Sue Budjac, who believes the legislation to be imbalanced.
Magney said the amendment would apply to any institutions that uses student IDs, including UW-System schools and most private schools; however, because the legislation did not specifically name technical colleges in its wording, they were not included.
Another amendment was made during debates on the legislation to include technical colleges specifically in the list, but that amendment did not pass, Magney said.
Members of Wisconsin Technical College System are disappointed over the new amendment. Budjac says it will have “an exceptionally negative effect on MSTC students.”
Budjac said the Higher Learning Commission of the Northcentral Association of Colleges accredits all Wisconsin’s technical colleges on the same standards as it does UW-System schools.
She added she views the interpretation as unfair to technical colleges.
“This unexpected interpretation of the law was made without consultation with technical college leadership or boards,” Budjac said. “We urge the GAB to revisit the Sept. 12 decision and allow Wisconsin’s technical college students to use their IDs to vote.”
