A Wisconsin appeals court reversed a lower court’s ruling Thursday in a decision that found the state’s controversial voter ID law, which requires voters to show a photo ID before voting, to be constitutional.
The case, brought by the League of Women Voters, challenged the voter ID law on the grounds it disenfranchised state voters, such as those who are poor or in a racial minority.
The Thursday ruling overturns an earlier decision by Judge Richard Niess, who sits on the Dane County Circuit Court. Niess previously found that the voter ID law would disenfranchise lower income citizens and voters in a racial minority.
The organization, along with other critics of the law, said the poor or minority citizens would likely live in areas, such as the inner city, that would make it difficult to secure a form of photo identification. The case also said the law would disenfranchise elderly voters who may not be able to physically travel to obtain a valid identification.
However, Gov. Scott Walker and other supporters of the voter ID law said it would help to curb voter fraud during elections.
The Fourth District Court of Appeals unanimously agreed the law did not disenfranchise state voters and was instead a valid means of checking to see if a voter is registered.
Andrea Kaminski, the executive director for the League of Women Voters, said in a statement the appeals court’s decision was only a small victory for the state because the law is also being challenged in several other lawsuits pending in state and federal court.
“Today’s court decision is a limited one,” Kaminski said in the statement. “[It] does not resolve the constitutionality of the law.”
But Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen said in a statement the ruling was proof the law was valid. He also said the ruling was one step in a process of fully defending the law.
“While today’s decision is an important step toward full vindication of the law, we recognize that other challenges are still pending that address different issues,” Van Hollen said in the statement. “We will continue to defend the law and look forward to favorable decisions in those other cases as well.”
Other state legislators, including Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, and state Sen. Fred Risser, D-Madison, released statements on the decision.
State Democrats said in statements they were disappointed with the outcome and emphasized the other cases challenging the law.
State Republicans in statements said they saw the decision as a “validation” of their work to pass a law that limited voter fraud. They also said they were hopeful the decision was only the start of a larger “vindication” of the entire law in each of the remaining cases.
An injunction on the voter ID law issued in one of the other cases has kept the law from being fully implemented statewide.
