Concentrated effort by the courts to strike down all requirements for photo ID.
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A federal judge on Friday threw out as unconstitutional a host of Wisconsin election laws passed in recent years, saying they unfairly benefited Republicans who had enacted them and made it more difficult for Democrats to vote.
U.S. District Judge James Peterson’s ruling keeps in place the state’s voter identification law, unlike recent rulings in North Carolina and Texas, but he ordered broad changes. The sweeping ruling was a defeat for Republican Gov. Scott Walker and the GOP-controlled Legislature. It will not affect Wisconsin’s upcoming Aug 9 primary, but will take effect for the Nov. 8 presidential election unless overturned on appeal.
A spokesman for the state Department of Justice, which defended the laws, said the agency plans to appeal to the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, though attorneys were still reviewing the 120-page decision Friday evening. Walker’s spokesman Tom Evenson said the ruling — issued at 5 p.m. Friday — was still being reviewed and the governor would comment later.
Peterson ordered the state to quickly issue credentials valid for voting to anyone trying to obtain a free photo ID for voting but lack the underlying documents such as birth certificates to obtain one. He called the state’s current process for getting free IDs to people who lack such documents “a wretched failure” because it has left a number of overwhelmingly black and Hispanic citizens unable to obtain IDs.
Peterson also struck down restrictions limiting municipalities to one location for in-person absentee voting and limiting in-person early voting to weekdays, allowing municipalities to hold weekend early voting sessions. He said imposing weekday limitations intentionally discriminates against Democratic-leaning blacks in Milwaukee.
He also struck down an increase in residency requirements from 10 to 28 days, a prohibition on using expired but otherwise qualifying student IDs to vote and a prohibition on distributing absentee ballots by fax or email.