The voter ID law has created much controversy since its passage last spring, and both Wisconsin’s government and its voters have faced substantial challenges with the law in light of the potential upcoming spring recall elections.

The law was upheld in court despite a lawsuit earlier this semester from the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin claiming it to be unconstitutional.

The law stipulates that voters must have a valid Wisconsin photo ID when they go to vote at the polls.

This has presented a problem, particularly for students whose IDs were initially not approved for voting. As much of the student population on campuses like the University of Wisconsin is from out of state, this would disable them from voting in any future elections. 

The first idea to address this problem was to put stickers on the school IDs, which would include the required information, but worries over fraud prevented this from becoming reality.

Although recently approved, technical college IDs were not included in the list of appropriate IDs, also creating controversy.

The Government Accountability Board recently approved entirely new “vote-only” school IDs for UW System schools, which had been sending in their ID designs to the board throughout the semester.

The ID designs now comply with the law, which requires them to have a signature and expiration date within two years of issuance.

The board’s final decision allows all 26 UW campuses, including two-year campuses, to use the new IDs in the upcoming spring elections.

There is now an American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit against the voter ID law on the grounds that the law is unconstitutional and deprives voters of their rights. Republicans argue the law helps to encourage honesty in Wisconsin elections.

The issue has been debated in other states with voter ID laws, and according to Gov. Scott Walker’s spokesperson, Cullen Werwie, the law has been upheld in those states.

The board is creating a campaign intended to educate voters about what the voter ID law entails and how they can go about obtaining a valid Wisconsin ID if they do not already have one.

Through a variety of media, including videos, radio ads, a website and an information phone number, the board intends to get the message to voters in time for the spring recall elections.