A Dane County judge declined Tuesday to overturn his ruling that suspended the state’s law requiring a photo ID to vote ahead of the April 3 election.
Judge Richard Niess issued an injunction March 12 suspending the law in a ruling on an appeal filed against the legality of the voter ID law by the League of Women Voters.
The state Department of Justice filed an appeal against the injunction last Thursday, citing the potential for confusion overturning the law’s enforcement would create so close to the April 3 election.
Like his original ruling, Niess denied the appeal on the grounds of the law’s unconstitutionality.
“There can be no justification for enforcement of [the voter ID law’s] unconstitutional photo ID requirements,” he said in his Tuesday decision.
Dane County Judge David Flanagan issued the first temporary injunction of the ID law in his ruling on an appeal by the NAACP’s Milwaukee branch March 6.
Both suspensions have been temporary. Flanagan will make a permanent ruling on April 16, and it is likely that the case will eventually be appealed up to the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
