Wisconsin’s voter ID law is likely addressing a problem that has yet to materialize in the state, according to a recent News21 analysis.

The analysis looked at 2,068 cases of voter fraud from all 50 states since 2000. In Wisconsin there have been 57 cases of alleged election fraud — rigging the vote in favor of or against a candidate — while there have been no instances of voter impersonation fraud — an ineligible voter casting a ballot under the name of an eligible voter — which voter ID addresses.

The analysis reported that there have only been 10 total instances of voter impersonation fraud across the nation.

Dane County Supervisor Hayley Young said many people view the Voter ID law as “blatant disenfranchisement” since voter ID is put into place to protect people from in-person voting fraud despite the fact that the problem hardly exists in Wisconsin.

Young said the voter ID law was implemented to try to stop an issue that does not threaten the state, while simultaneously making it more difficult for certain populations, such as homeless and low income individuals, to vote.

The Dane County Board unanimously passed a resolution in June that will allow homeless individuals to obtain the proper identification in order to vote in the next election, Young said. 

“We can’t oversee state law but we can do everything we can to implement it in such a way that does not negatively impact people that already have so many barriers against them,” Young said.

Chad Zuleger, the committee clerk for the Assembly Committee on Campaigns and Elections, said the use of voter ID is about maintaining election integrity.

Voter ID allows only eligible voters to cast ballots, and has been successfully adopted in states like Arizona, Zuleger said.

“It’s a way to ensure that one of our most important mechanisms in a working democracy is of the utmost security,” Zuleger said.

Zuleger said a voter ID system can help solve irregularities that occur during elections.

“This [voter ID] is a way to minimize issues and give the public a sense of security going into their election that their votes are being counted equally with other eligible voters,” Zuleger said.