A federal judge struck down Wisconsin’s voter ID law Tuesday, which required voters to show photo identification at the polls on the grounds it would hinder minority citizens’ right to vote.
U.S. District Court Judge Lynn Adelman’s decision ruled on two combined legal challenges filed by multiple minority-rights groups and the American Civil Liberties Union.
Adelman said in his decision the law did not address concerns for electoral integrity because “virtually no voter fraud occurs in Wisconsin and it is exceedingly unlikely that voter impersonation will become a problem in Wisconsin in the foreseeable future.”
In the opinion Adelman said the state did not adequately demonstrate a single instance of voter fraud during the hearings.
“Moreover, if voter impersonation is occurring often enough to threaten the integrity of the electoral process, then we should be able to find more evidence that it is occurring than we do,” Adelman added.
University of Wisconsin-Madison political science professor Barry Burden, who testified in the lawsuit, said Tuesday’s ruling on Wisconsin’s law could set legal precedent for the rest of the nation.
“There were a bunch of states that adopted voter ID laws in the last two and a half to four years, and Wisconsin’s was one of the strictest laws,” Burden said. “Maybe the strictest in the country, or pretty close.”
Legal challenges to voter ID laws have become common across the country, but Burden said Wisconsin’s is the first such law to be invalidated on the grounds that it disproportionately limits racial minorities’ ability to vote.
“This is the first time that a voter ID law has been struck down in any state under section two of the Voting Rights Act,” Burden said. “Wisconsin is a test case.”
Peter Balogun, co-president of the UW-Madison Wisconsin Association of Black Men, said his organization was happy to see a court dismiss a law that he said would have disadvantaged minority students at the polls.
Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen and Gov. Scott Walker both said in statements they believe the law to be constitutional and necessary.
State Sen. Glenn Grothman, R-West Bend, joined many of his Republican colleagues in denouncing the decision.
“Judge Adelman is a known activist judge, and I expected him to use flawed logic and a twisted misunderstanding of the U.S. Constitution to strike down a law that he personally disagrees with,” Grothman said in a statement.
In March, Walker said he would convene a special session of the legislature if the Wisconsin Supreme Court struck down the law in another lawsuit regarding voter ID requirements. Burden predicted it would be difficult to structure new voter ID legislation under Adelman’s interpretation of the law.
“I think it is going to take some time to figure out exactly what they would have to do to meet that standard,” Burden said. “It is a very strong decision.”
Representatives of the UW-Madison College Democrats and Young Progressives said although the decision is a step in the right direction, other recently passed laws such as Wisconsin’s proof of residency requirement also limit students’ access to the polls.
Van Hollen said in a statement he would appeal the decision in another federal court, which would begin a legal process that could end in the U.S. Supreme Court.
“We are not done,” Burden concluded. “It is a major decision, but there are still lots of things happening.”
