Judge temporarily blocks Wisconsin's Voter ID Law
By: Erin Davisson
Updated: March 8, 2012
(Madison, WI) - Wisconsin voters no longer need to show a photo ID when they head to the polls on April 3rd. A Dane County judge has ordered a temporary injunction to stop the law. It's in response to a lawsuit filed by Milwaukee's NAACP branch and immigration rights group Voces de la Frontera
Judge David Flanagan said in his eleven page ruling, a significant portion of Wisconsin's population does not have the proper photo identification needed to vote, and obtaining it is especially hard for some.
The ruling is in response to just one of four separate lawsuits currently pending against the law.
"I think there is a fairly common perception that everyone has an ID because you show an ID for this, you show an id for that," explained President of the League of Women Voters Greater Green Bay, Joyce McCollum. "But not everyone does have an ID so that population is disenfranchised."
The Wisconsin League of Women Voters also has a lawsuit pending. McCollum called this ruling a step in the right direction.
"I think the fact that there are four different lawsuits, two in state courts and two in federal courts, that there are people who feel there are really problems with this law that it suppresses the normal voting," she added.
In Green Bay, interim City Clerk Kris Teske said she doesn't expect the ruling to change too much for April's election. She said poll workers in charge of checking ID's will be reassigned. Teske also said there were no problems with the initial implementation of the voter ID law during the February primaries, but she thinks in April, reaction at the polls will be mixed.
"We already had someone come in that was applying for an absentee ballot and one of the girls said no, I don't need your photo ID, and he said why not? I think you should show it. So it was interesting. There's people out there that really like it."
A trial on whether to grant a permanent injunction is scheduled for April 16th.
Local 5 has learned Judge David Flanagan did sign a recall petition against Governor Scott Walker. His wife was a petition circulator.
Governor Walker told Local 5 Tuesday he disagrees with the judge's decision, and will continue to support the voter ID law.
"I think, in the end, to verify the integrity of the vote of every person is a reasonable expectation," Walker said. "I think it's one in which the law built it in to safeguard that if people didn't have a photo ID, they can get one for free. So I think in the end this could work, and that the action in the court will be overturned and the law will be upheld."
