After the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling on voting rights, Wisconsin activists are waiting to see how the decision could affect ongoing legal disputes on voter ID laws in the state.
In its June 25 decision in the Shelby County v. Holder case, the Supreme Court redacted Section IV regarding the federal oversight of states with historic issues with voting rights and disenfranchisement of voters, of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 in a 5-4 decision.
While this decision is monumental for the mostly southern states subject to federal approval to change voter laws, Wisconsin is waiting to see the effect it will have on its own voter ID law.
Wisconsin’s voter ID law, which requires voters to have specific photo identification to vote, was ruled constitutional by the 4th District Court of Appeals on May 30, despite a challenge by the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin that it violated the state Constitution.
“In sum, the League has presented no basis to conclude that it has met its heavy burden in this facial constitutional challenge,” according to the court’s opinion.
In a related case stemming from a challenge to the Indiana voter ID law, the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2008 decision in Crawford v. Marion County Election Board upheld a state’s right to require voter identification as long as it is not an “undue burden” upon the voters.
In the majority opinion, Supreme Court Justice John Stevens wrote, “Gathering required documents and posing for a photograph does not qualify as a substantial burden on most voters’ right to vote, or represent a significant increase over the usual burdens of voting.”
Donald Downs, a UW political science and advisor to the Herald, said the Wisconsin law is similar to the Indiana law, which increases its chances of being upheld.
“The Wisconsin case has more evidence of inconvenience to specific voters than Indiana,” Downs said.
Currently, Wisconsin law is not being enforced as a result of Dane County Circuit Court Judge David Flanagan’s injunction from March 2012.
Flanagan extended his injunction in July 2012 and said the law “tells more than 300,000 Wisconsin voters who do not now have an acceptable form of photo identification that they cannot vote unless they first obtain a photo ID card. That is a lot of people and most of them already are registered voters.”
Despite the injunction, Rep. Jeff Stone, R-Greendale, also introduced a bill in May to enact voter ID, in addition to shortening the absentee voting period, open hours at polling places and bringing Wisconsin’s campaign finance laws in line with the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission decision from 2010.
The bill passed the Assembly in June and is awaiting a Senate hearing in the fall.
On the national level, U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Wisconsin, has recently pushed legislators in Washington for a “Right to Vote” act in response to voter ID bills circulating nationwide. Pocan’s legislation would enact a constitutional amendment to guarantee a right to vote for all Americans.
He has said the legislation is especially critical after the Supreme Court’s recent decision.
“We cannot wait to enact a constitutional amendment that would guarantee an affirmative right to vote for all Americans,” Pocan said in a statement.
