In 2011, Wisconsin shifted from one of the most accessible states for voting to enacting stricter rules that ignited a lasting debate over voter access. The law, signed by former Gov. Scott Walker, requires voters to present photo ID at the polls, a measure that Republicans argue strengthens ballot security.
Nearly a decade of legal challenges followed over its effect on voter access, with advocates pointing to its disproportionate impact on marginalized groups. Black and Hispanic voters may be twice as likely to lack photo ID accepted for voting in Wisconsin compared to white voters, according to the ACLU, who filed a suit against the law in 2011. A federal judge ruled the law unconstitutional in 2014, a decision overturned later in the year by a federal appeals court.
The 2016 race, the first since the law came into effect, saw the lowest turnout for a presidential election in the state since 2000 at only 69.4%.
Disproportionate impacts on turnout can swing outcomes in a battleground state like Wisconsin, where elections have a history of razor-thin margins. Since 2000, four of the last six presidential elections in Wisconsin have been decided by less than 1% of the vote. And out of more than 2.9 million ballots cast in the state in 2020, former President Donald Trump won over Hillary Clinton by only 22,748 votes — less than UW-Madison’s undergraduate enrollment alone.
Decades-old research shows that stricter voter ID laws disproportionately disenfranchise racial minorities and lower-income individuals, while a 2017 study from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee found that Black and Hispanic adults in Wisconsin were as much as 30% less likely than White adults to possess valid driver’s licenses under the new law despite being otherwise eligible to vote.
A study following the 2016 election by University of Wisconsin-Madison political scientists found a drop in accessibility through the early 2010’s as Republicans took control of the state government and the voter ID law was established. As many as 8,000 to 17,000 voters in Dane and Milwaukee — the two counties with the most Democratic and Black voters — were deterred from voting in 2016 explicitly due to the ID law. Of those, about 8 in 10 voted in the previous election.
Voter ID laws deter voters who are more sensitive to convenience or believe they lack proper ID, therefore causing systematic disenfranchisement. These disproportionate side effects may come with little return in election security.
Voter ID law limits voter turnout, expert says
Some experts are wary to claim the 2016 study which shows the new law made a significant difference in the election outcome. Barry Burden, director of the Elections Research Center and political science professor at UW-Madison, told the Cardinal a decline in overall 2016 voter turnout “is probably the result of multiple factors, including the voter ID law.”
But the authors of the study, retired UW-Madison political scientist Dr. Kenneth R. Mayer and Ph.D. student Michael G. DeCrescenzo, stressed that the law still deterred many eligible Wisconsin residents from casting ballots. Most of the people who said they did not vote because they lacked ID actually possessed qualifying ID.
The study is also a lower bound on the true number of excluded voters as it does not account for those who were prevented from registering in the first place, they said.
“While the total number affected in Milwaukee and Dane Counties is smaller than the margin of victory in the 2016 presidential election, that is the wrong measure,” Mayer said in a press release of his study. “An eligible voter who cannot vote because of the ID law is disenfranchised, and that in itself is a serious harm to the integrity of the electoral process.”
Proponents of the law downplayed the confusion portrayed by opponents of the law and argued it provides necessary voting security. Republican lawmakers who championed the rule believed confusion surrounding the law to be hyperbole, citing the ubiquity of photo ID requirements.
“There was no evidence from media reports or court records of significant voter fraud before the voter ID law went into effect, and there is no evidence that voter crimes decreased or public confidence in elections improved as a result of the law,” Burden said, adding that the rare cases of true voter fraud “are generally not trying to impersonate other voters, which is the only fraudulent act that a voter ID requirement addresses.”
How the law impacts UW students, what is required to vote
UW-Madison has a robust history of student civic engagement. About 85% of eligible students were registered to vote in the 2020 election, and 72.8% voted. In 2022, the university saw the highest voter turnout in the Big Ten.
But more than one in four eligible students are still left out of the democratic process, many of whom did not vote due to convenience issues.
Under the photo ID rule, Wisconsin student IDs are only accepted if they include a name, signature, photo and an issue and expiration date within two years. This means that Wiscards are not sufficient photo ID, though other universities like UW-Eau Claire have made their student IDs compliant. Driver’s licenses are also only accepted if they are from Wisconsin.
All U.S. citizens who will be 18 years of age on or before Election Day and have resided in Wisconsin for at least 28 consecutive days before Election Day are eligible to vote if they are able to give photo ID along with proof of residency such as a utility bill, apartment lease or university proof of enrollment.
UW students who do not have access to compliant ID can request a free card from the university.
Many students are occupied with academic or professional obligations during election week and therefore need absentee or early voting methods, but those can also be confusing to navigate.
“I don’t know if I can even vote. I was trying to get an absentee [ballot] and it’s very frustrating — they keep saying my address isn’t right,” UW-Madison senior Heaven Moua, an in-state student from Cottage Grove who tried registering online, told the Cardinal.
Some students from other states opt to register in-person for the same reason. UW-Madison senior Shreyas Davuluri said he couldn’t register online because he doesn’t have a Wisconsin ID.
The city government has been working closely with BadgersVote to make absentee voting more accessible, Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway and District 8 Ald. MGR Govindarajan previously told the Cardinal. Once registered, a student can request an absentee ballot through the mail, which they can then mail back or drop in one of several locations in Madison. The closest locations to campus are the Fire Station on Monroe Street across from Camp Randall and Fire Station 1 closer to the Capitol.
Students can also vote early on campus at either of the student unions during weekdays 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. starting two weeks before Election Day.
“We really encourage people to use early voting… both because the lines would be shorter, and if something comes up on the day, you have an exam, you’re out of town, it's raining… you don’t want to leave it to the last moment,” Rhodes-Conway said.
Alex Tan is a staff writer for the Daily Cardinal specializing in state politics coverage. Follow him on Twitter at @dxvilsavocado.
