Voters may not need to show photo identification at the polls for the recall elections after a Dane County judge extended a court case on a challenge to the law Thursday.

After hearing evidence for the past four days, Dane County Circuit Judge David Flanagan set a briefing schedule. 

Flanagan said because of the complexity of the case, he wanted to give attorneys time to formulate their arguments in briefs. He set June 18 for the last set of filings, extending the case beyond the recall elections for governor, lieutenant governor and some senators scheduled for June 5.

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and immigrant rights group Voces de la Frontera brought the suit against the law, claiming it burdens voters who have to get state sponsored IDs. Flanagan issued a temporary injunction against the law in March.

Department of Justice spokesperson Dana Brueck said in an email to The Badger Herald that the court of appeals in the case could also remove the temporary injunction put in place. She said DOJ does not think the briefing schedule is going to be determinative of whether the voter ID law will be applied to the May primaries and June elections.

She added another injunction exists in another case brought against the law by the League of Women Voters.

“We don’t know if courts will stay the injunctions, as we have requested, before the upcoming elections,” Brueck said. “For the law to be reinstated, both courts of appeals would need to enter a stay. A single stay would leave the other injunction in place.”

Barbara Becker, first vice president of the Milwaukee branch of the NAACP, said NAACP is confident the case will result in a permanent injunction. She said nearly 200,000 people could be disenfranchised because of the law.

She said NAACP as well as the state presented their own expert witnesses, and Flanagan will have to weigh the testimony from both sides of the case. She said the law unfairly disenfranchises people who were born at home who may have a birth certificate as well as immigrants.

However, Brueck said she believes the law will, in the end, be upheld.

“We believe the voter ID law is valid, will ultimately be upheld and we’ll continue to defend it,” Brueck said.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.