Tuesday's primary elections will be the first time voters will be asked to provide an acceptable photo ID before receiving a ballot, in accordance to the new Voter ID law passed last year.
Kevin Kennedy, director and general counsel of the Government Accountability Board, called the Voter ID law "the biggest change to Wisconsin elections since 18-year-olds became eligible to vote in the early 1970s" in a statement on the GAB website.
Election officials are expecting 10 percent of eligible voters to turnout at Tuesday's primaries, in which voters can choose between three candidates for Dane County Circuit Court Judge.
Dane County Chief Deputy Clerk Sherri Endres said while Tuesday is a relatively small election, it will "give us all the chance to run through this once and see what the issues are if any and get them corrected for the April election," when Wisconsin will have its presidential primary and other city and county elections.
Given the significant changes to the voting process, Endres said the Dane County Clerk's office has held multiple educational seminars to educate municipal clerks and election inspectors on the new rules.
"Many of the municipal clerks have gone the extra mile and done some mock trials and have done training with their poll workers," Endres said.
The GAB started airing public service announcements on TV, radio, newspapers, billboards and the Internet in January to educate the public on the changes.
UW System schools have also started a campaign to educate students, whose student IDs are not acceptable forms of identification, about the changes.
Schools around the state have taken steps to issue separate ID cards with a two-year expiration date and the student's signature so students are prepared to vote. Also, students using a voter ID provided by the university must provide proof they are currently enrolled in the school.
UW-Madison students without another acceptable form of identification can receive a UW-Madison voter ID card at the WisCard office in Union South. As of Feb. 13, UW-Madison had issued less than 250 voter ID cards.
